Visuddhimagga · Path of Purification
Theravāda · Buddhaghosa
Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli’s translation of Buddhaghosa’s Path of Purification, in the Buddhist Publication Society’s 2011 edition.
Chapters
- Description Of Virtue
- The Ascetic Practices
- Taking A Meditation Subject
- The Earth Kasiṇa
- The Remaining Kasiṇas
- Foulness As A Meditation Subject
- Six Recollections
- Other Recollections As Meditation Subjects
- The Divine Abidings
- The Immaterial States
- Concentration—Conclusion: Nutriment And The Elements
- The Supernormal Powers
- Other Direct-Knowledges
- The Aggregates
- The Bases And Elements
- The Faculties And Truths
- The Soil Of Understanding—Conclusion: Dependent Origination
- Purification Of View
- Purification By Overcoming Doubt
- Purification By Knowledge And Vision Of What Is The Path And What Is Not The Path
- Purification By Knowledge And Vision Of The Way
- Purification By Knowledge And Vision
- The Benefits In Developing Understanding
Translations & sourcesEditions & translators
Read Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli’s translation of the Visuddhimagga, in the Buddhist Publication Society’s 2011 edition.
Edition & attribution
This is a brief introduction to the text, not a translation.
Introductions, reflection questions and added section headings are editorial material, separate from the attributed translation.
The opening image is AI-generated nature artwork created for Buddhist Atlas. It is an evocative companion, not a depiction of the text’s historical setting.
The linked publisher provides the text and its usage terms.
Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli · Buddhist Publication Society, 2011. Unchanged PDF, distributed free of charge under the source edition’s terms .
Connections
Guru Viking9
- Ep200: Lama Vajranatha - Professor John Myrdhin Reynolds
Reference in the official chapter notes.
Source
- Ep166: Fire Kasina Mystic - Daniel Ingram
Reference checked in captions.
Source
- Ep138: Trained as a Nun - Beth Upton
Reference in the official chapter notes.
Source
- Ep115: Jhana, Ego, & Orgasm – Leigh Brasington, Shinzen Young, Chelsey Fasano, & Dr Sanguinetti
Reference in the official chapter notes.
Source
- Ep112: Relaxing Into Nibbana - Bhante Vimalaramsi
Reference in the official chapter notes.
Source
- Ep108: From Tolkien to Tibet - Erik Jampa Andersson
Reference checked in a machine transcript of the official podcast audio.
Source
- Ep73: Dangerous and Delusional? - Daniel Ingram
Reference checked in captions.
Source
- Ep68: Magick, The Occult, & Summoning Demons - Daniel Ingram
Reference checked in captions.
Source
- Ep20: Supra-Mundane Dhamma - Dhammarato
Reference in the official chapter notes.
Source
People & teachers12
- Buddhaghosa
Author of this Theravāda practice manual.
Source
- Ariya B. Baumann
Teaches on this text:
- Sterben & Tod (2. Tag)Names this text
- Donald Rothberg
Teaches on this text:
- Integrating Metta Practice with Wisdom, Awareness, and Insight Practice 2Names this text
- Integrating Metta Practice with Wisdom, Awareness, and Insight Practice 1Names this text
1 more connected teachings
- Concentration Practice II- and discussionNames this text
- Akincano Marc Weber
Teaches on this text:
- The Gateways of Deliverance (on nimitta)Names this text
- Katy Wiss
Teaches on this text:
- Faith and Doubt on the Path of PurificationNames this text
- Ayya Medhanandi
Teaches on this text:
- The Ocean Cares for Each WaveNames this text
- Kamala Masters
Teaches on this text:
- Nikki Mirghafori
Teaches on this text:
- James Baraz
Teaches on this text:
- "Refinement of Mind, Part 1"Names this text
- Path Of PurificationNames this text
1 more connected teachings
- Practice & Skillful ActionNames this text
- Rebecca Bradshaw
Teaches on this text:
- The Four Noble TruthsNames this text
- Ayya Khema
Teaches on this text:
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Teaches on this text:
- Non FearNames this text
Traditions & history6
- Buddhaghosa’s synthesis
The fifth-century synthesis associated with this manual.
Source
- Pa-Auk meditation network
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Pa-Auk meditation network.
- Insight
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Insight.
- Mahāsi
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Mahāsi.
- Commentarial learning
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Commentarial learning.
- Theravāda
Study context: this text is included in the Atlas guide to Theravāda.
Books2
- The Path of Purification
The complete English translation by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli.
Source
- Manual of Insight
Later Burmese insight teaching that draws on the commentarial framework.
Source
Topics2
- Jhāna & concentration
Explore Jhāna & concentration across the Atlas.
- Mindfulness of breathing
Explore Mindfulness of breathing across the Atlas.
Make yourself comfortable
About this textContext & reading guide
A fifth-century manual that organizes a path through ethical purification, concentration and wisdom.
Its detailed discussions include meditation subjects, absorptions, analysis of experience and the development of insight.
It synthesizes a commentarial inheritance rather than functioning as one discourse attributed to the Buddha. It belongs to later Theravāda literature, not the Pāli Sutta Piṭaka.
Teachers differ in how closely their practical instructions follow its systematic descriptions. Its influence is extensive, but it is not the entirety of Theravāda practice.