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[[image:buddhaghosa.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Buddhaghosa offering the Visuddhimagga to the chief monk]]
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[[image:buddhaghosa.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Buddhaghosa offering the Visuddhimagga to the chief monk.]]
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'''Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa''' was a fifth-century<ref>Hinüber, Oskar, 1996: 103 is more specific, estimating dates for Buddhaghosa of 370 - 450 C.E. based on the Mahavamsa and other sources. Following the Mahavamsa, Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, 1999: p=xxvi places Buddhaghosa's arrival as coming during the reign of King Mahanama, between 412 and 434 C.E.</ref> Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar.<ref>Strong 2004, 75</ref> His name means "Voice of the Buddha" in the Pāli language. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation. The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the twelfth century C.E.<ref>Crosby 2004, 837</ref> He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as the most important commentator of the [[Theravada]].<ref>Hinüber, 1996, 102; Strong 2004, 75</ref>
'''Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa''' was a 5th century [[India]]n [[Theravadin]] [[Buddhist]] commentator and scholar. Buddhaghosa means "Voice of the [[Buddha]]" in the [[Pāli language]].  
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 +
== Biography ==
 +
Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: 1) short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works, 2) details of his life recorded in the ''[[Mahavamsa]]'', a Sri Lankan chronicle, and 3) a later biographical work called the ''Buddhaghosuppatti''.<ref>Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxviii</ref> A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material.<ref>Hinüber 1996, 102</ref>
 +
 
 +
The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition.<ref>Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxix</ref> Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from [[India]], and settled in [[Anuradhapura]].<ref name=one> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxix-xxx</ref> Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.<ref name=one/>
 +
 
 +
The ''Mahavamsa'' records that Buddhaghosa was born into a [[Brahmin]] family in the kingdom of [[Magadhi]].<ref>Strong 200, 75</ref> He is said to have been born near [[Bodh Gaya]], and to have been a master of the [[Vedas]], traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates.<ref name=two>Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxiv</ref> Only upon encountering a Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine, and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the [[Abhidharma]].<ref name=two/> Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a Buddhist monk and undertook the study of the [[Tripitaka]] and its commentaries. On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Sri Lanka to study a Sinhalese commentary on this text that was believed to have been preserved.<ref name=two/>
 +
 
 +
In [[Sri Lanka]], Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Mahavihara.<ref> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxii</ref> Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhalese-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in the [[Pali]] language.<ref name=three> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxv</ref> The elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge, by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the sutras; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the [[Visuddhimagga]].<ref>Strong 2004, 76</ref> His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch.<ref name=three/> When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of the Tripitaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries.<ref name=three/>
 +
 
 +
Buddhaghosa would go on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the [[Pali]] Canon, with his works becoming the definitive [[Theravada|Theravadin]] interpretation of the scriptures.<ref>Strong 2004, 75</ref> Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhalese commentary preserved at the Mahavihara, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the [[bodhi tree]].<ref name=three/>
 +
 
 +
The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it is assumed to be generally accurate.<ref> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxvi</ref> While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India.<ref name=four>Hinüber 1996, 102</ref> Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and A.P. Buddhadatta) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in southern India, and was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha.<ref name=four/>
 +
 
 +
The ''Buddhaghosuppatti'', a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history.<ref name=seven>Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxix</ref> It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding a legal case.<ref name =nine> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxvii-xxxviii</ref> It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhalese originals from which Buddhaghosa worked in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed.<ref> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxviii</ref>
  
 
==Writings and translations==
 
==Writings and translations==
He translated extensive [[Sinhalese language|Sinhala]] commentaries on the Pāli Buddhist texts in Pāli. Certain commentaries are also attributed to him, including one on the [[Vinaya]] and one on the [[Dhammapada]] that includes 305 stories for context.
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Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of [[Sinhalese language|Sinhala]] commentaries on the Pāli Canon. His [[Visuddhimagga]] (Pāli: Path of Purification) is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today. The Mahavamsa ascribes a great many books to Buddhaghosa's composition, some of which are not believed to have been his work, but rather were composed later and attributed to him.<ref>Hinüber 1996, 103</ref>
[http://web.ukonline.co.uk/buddhism/dmpada2.htm]
 
  
His [[Visuddhimagga]] (Pāli: Path of Purification) is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today. The book is divided into sections on [[Sīla]] (ethics), [[Samādhi]] (meditation), and [[Pañña]] (wisdom). This is a traditional division in Buddhist teachings, which suggest that ethics are essential to meditation, and that meditation is essential to developing wisdom. From the Buddhist point of view this is the "path of purification" because it purifies the mind of the defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion.
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Below is a listing of the fourteen commentaries traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa (Pāli: ''atthakatha'') on the [[Tripitika|Pāli Tipitaka]]:<ref>Table based on Bullitt, 2002.</ref>
 
 
Below is a listing of Buddhaghosa's fourteen commentaries (Pāli: ''atthakatha'') on the [[Pāli Tipitaka]]:<ref>Table based on Bullitt (2002).  Bullitt further notes that only six of Buddhaghosa's commentaries have complete English translations: the Dhammapada-atthakatha, the Jatakatthavannana, the Jataka-atthakatha, the Atthasalini, the Sammohavinodani and the Pañcappakaranatthakatha.  These English translations are available through the [[Pali Text Society]].  (See Bullitt, 2002, for more information about these translations.)  Soma (2003) contains a translation of Buddhaghosa's Papañcasudani pertinent to the [[Satipatthana Sutta]].</ref>
 
  
 
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==Notes==
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== Influence and Legacy ==
<references/>
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In the twelfth century, the Sri Lankan monk Sariputta became the leading scholar of the Theravada following the reunification of the Sri Lankan monastic community by King Parakramabahu I.<ref name=five>Crosby 2004, 837</ref> Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations.<ref name=five/> In subsequent years, many monks from [[Theravada]] traditions in [[Southeast Asia]] sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka because of the reputation of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship.<ref name=five/> The result was the spread of the teachings of the [[Mahavihara]] tradition, and thus Buddhaghosa, throughout the Theravada world.<ref name=five/> Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine.<ref name=six>Strong 2004, 76</ref>
  
==References==
+
In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades. His life story was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the ''Buddhaghosuppatti'', or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa".<ref name=six/> Despite the general belief that he was Indian by birth, he later may have been claimed by the [[Mon]] people of [[Myanmar|Burma]] as an attempt to assert primacy over Sri Lanka in the development of Theravada tradition.<ref>Pranke 2004, 574</ref> Other scholars believe that the Mon records refer to another figure, but whose name and personal history are much in the mold of the Indian Buddhaghosa.<ref name=seven/>
  
*Bullitt,John T. (2002). ''Beyond the Tipitaka: A Field Guide to Post-canonical Pali Literature''. Available on-line at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bullitt/fieldguide.html.
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Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the [[Pali]] language as the scriptural language of the Theravada, and as a [[lingua franca]] in the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The development of new analyses of Theravada doctrine, both in Pali and Sinhalese, seems to have dried up prior to Buddhaghosa's emergence in Sri Lanka.<ref name=eight> Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxvii</ref> In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy (such as the [[Mahayana]]) were emerging, many of them making use of classical [[Sanskrit]] both as a scriptural language and as a language of philosophical discourse.<ref name=eight/> The monks of the Mahavihara may have attempted to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously dis-used secondary sources that may have vanished in India, as evidenced by the Mahavamsa.<ref name=nine/> Early indications of this resurgence in the use of Pali as a literary language may be visible in the composition of the Dipavamsa and the Vimuttimagga, both dating to shortly before Buddhaghosa's arrival in [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name=eight/> The addition of Buddhaghosa's works&mdash;which combined the pedigree of the oldest Sinhalese commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all of the Theravada learning centers of the time&mdash;provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravada intellectual tradition, possibly aiding the Theravada school in surviving the challenge to its position posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India.<ref>Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxix-xl</ref>
  
* Soma Thera (trans.) (2003). ''The Way of Mindfulness''. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. ISBN 955-24-0256-5.  Also available on-line in a 1998 version at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/soma/wayof.html.
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===Notes===
 +
<references/>
  
==External links==
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==References==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Buddhaghosa}}
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*Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. "Introduction." In ''Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification,''  translated by Buddhaghosa and Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. Seattle: Buddhist Publication Society, 1999. ISBN 1928706010
* {{ppn|b/buddhagosa.htm|Buddhaghosa}} Retrieved November 13, 2007.
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*Crosby, Kate. "Theravada." In ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism,'' edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104
 +
*von Hinüber, Oskar. ''A Handbook of Pali Literature''. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1996. ISBN 8121507782
 +
*Pranke, Patrick A. "Myanmar." In ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism,'' edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104
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*Strong, John. "Buddhaghosa." In ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism,'' edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104
  
 
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[[Category:Philosophy and religion]]
 
[[Category:History]]
 
[[Category:History]]
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[[Category:Biography]]
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[[category:Buddhism]]
  
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Latest revision as of 17:39, 30 April 2020

Buddhaghosa offering the Visuddhimagga to the chief monk.

Bhadantācariya Buddhaghosa was a fifth-century[1] Indian Theravadin Buddhist commentator and scholar.[2] His name means "Voice of the Buddha" in the Pāli language. His best-known work is the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, a comprehensive summary and analysis of the Theravada understanding of the Buddha's path to liberation. The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravada scriptures since at least the twelfth century C.E.[3] He is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravadins as the most important commentator of the Theravada.[4]

Biography

Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: 1) short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works, 2) details of his life recorded in the Mahavamsa, a Sri Lankan chronicle, and 3) a later biographical work called the Buddhaghosuppatti.[5] A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material.[6]

The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition.[7] Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from India, and settled in Anuradhapura.[8] Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.[8]

The Mahavamsa records that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the kingdom of Magadhi.[9] He is said to have been born near Bodh Gaya, and to have been a master of the Vedas, traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates.[10] Only upon encountering a Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine, and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the Abhidharma.[10] Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a Buddhist monk and undertook the study of the Tripitaka and its commentaries. On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Sri Lanka to study a Sinhalese commentary on this text that was believed to have been preserved.[10]

In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Mahavihara.[11] Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhalese-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in the Pali language.[12] The elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge, by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the sutras; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the Visuddhimagga.[13] His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch.[12] When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of the Tripitaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries.[12]

Buddhaghosa would go on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures.[14] Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhalese commentary preserved at the Mahavihara, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the bodhi tree.[12]

The details of the Mahavamsa account cannot readily be verified; while it is generally regarded by Western scholars as having been embellished with legendary events (such as the hiding of Buddhaghosa's text by the gods), in the absence of contradictory evidence it is assumed to be generally accurate.[15] While the Mahavamsa claims that Buddhaghosa was born in northern India near Bodh Gaya, the epilogues to his commentaries make reference to only one location in India as being a place of at least temporary residence: Kanci in southern India.[16] Some scholars thus conclude (among them Oskar von Hinüber and A.P. Buddhadatta) that Buddhaghosa was actually born in southern India, and was relocated in later biographies to give him closer ties to the region of the Buddha.[16]

The Buddhaghosuppatti, a later biographical text, is generally regarded by Western scholars as being legend rather than history.[17] It adds to the Mahavamsa tale certain details, such as the identity of Buddhaghosa's parents and his village, as well as several dramatic episodes, such as the conversion of Buddhaghosa's father and Buddhaghosa's role in deciding a legal case.[18] It also explains the eventual loss of the Sinhalese originals from which Buddhaghosa worked in creating his Pali commentaries by claiming that Buddhaghosa collected and burnt the original manuscripts once his work was completed.[19]

Writings and translations

Buddhaghosa was reputedly responsible for an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon. His Visuddhimagga (Pāli: Path of Purification) is a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism that is still read and studied today. The Mahavamsa ascribes a great many books to Buddhaghosa's composition, some of which are not believed to have been his work, but rather were composed later and attributed to him.[20]

Below is a listing of the fourteen commentaries traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa (Pāli: atthakatha) on the Pāli Tipitaka:[21]

Pali
Tipitaka
Buddhaghosa's
Commentary
from the
Vinaya Pitaka
Vinaya (general) Samantapasadika
Patimokkha Kankhavitarani
from the
Sutta Pitaka
Digha Nikaya Sumangalavilasini
Majjhima Nikaya Papañcasudani
Samyutta Nikaya Saratthappakasini
Anguttara Nikaya Manorathapurani
from the
Khuddaka
Nikaya
Khuddakapatha Paramatthajotika (I)
Dhammapada Dhammapada-atthakatha
Sutta Nipata Paramatthajotika (II),
Suttanipata-atthakatha
Jataka Jatakatthavannana,
Jataka-atthakatha
from the
Abhidhamma
Pitaka
Dhammasangani Atthasalini
Vibhanga Sammohavinodani
Dhatukatha Pañcappakaranatthakatha
Puggalapaññatti
Kathavatthu
Yamaka
Patthana

Influence and Legacy

In the twelfth century, the Sri Lankan monk Sariputta became the leading scholar of the Theravada following the reunification of the Sri Lankan monastic community by King Parakramabahu I.[22] Sariputta incorporated many of the works of Buddhaghosa into his own interpretations.[22] In subsequent years, many monks from Theravada traditions in Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka because of the reputation of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship.[22] The result was the spread of the teachings of the Mahavihara tradition, and thus Buddhaghosa, throughout the Theravada world.[22] Buddhaghosa's commentaries thereby became the standard method by which the Theravada scriptures were understood, establishing Buddhaghosa as the definitive interpreter of Theravada doctrine.[23]

In later years, Buddhaghosa's fame and influence inspired various accolades. His life story was recorded, in an expanded and likely exaggerated form, in a Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti, or "The Development of the Career of Buddhaghosa".[23] Despite the general belief that he was Indian by birth, he later may have been claimed by the Mon people of Burma as an attempt to assert primacy over Sri Lanka in the development of Theravada tradition.[24] Other scholars believe that the Mon records refer to another figure, but whose name and personal history are much in the mold of the Indian Buddhaghosa.[17]

Finally, Buddhaghosa's works likely played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the scriptural language of the Theravada, and as a lingua franca in the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The development of new analyses of Theravada doctrine, both in Pali and Sinhalese, seems to have dried up prior to Buddhaghosa's emergence in Sri Lanka.[25] In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy (such as the Mahayana) were emerging, many of them making use of classical Sanskrit both as a scriptural language and as a language of philosophical discourse.[25] The monks of the Mahavihara may have attempted to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously dis-used secondary sources that may have vanished in India, as evidenced by the Mahavamsa.[18] Early indications of this resurgence in the use of Pali as a literary language may be visible in the composition of the Dipavamsa and the Vimuttimagga, both dating to shortly before Buddhaghosa's arrival in Sri Lanka.[25] The addition of Buddhaghosa's works—which combined the pedigree of the oldest Sinhalese commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all of the Theravada learning centers of the time—provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravada intellectual tradition, possibly aiding the Theravada school in surviving the challenge to its position posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India.[26]

Notes

  1. Hinüber, Oskar, 1996: 103 is more specific, estimating dates for Buddhaghosa of 370 - 450 C.E. based on the Mahavamsa and other sources. Following the Mahavamsa, Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, 1999: p=xxvi places Buddhaghosa's arrival as coming during the reign of King Mahanama, between 412 and 434 C.E.
  2. Strong 2004, 75
  3. Crosby 2004, 837
  4. Hinüber, 1996, 102; Strong 2004, 75
  5. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxviii
  6. Hinüber 1996, 102
  7. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxix
  8. 8.0 8.1 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxix-xxx
  9. Strong 200, 75
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxiv
  11. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxii
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxv
  13. Strong 2004, 76
  14. Strong 2004, 75
  15. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxvi
  16. 16.0 16.1 Hinüber 1996, 102
  17. 17.0 17.1 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxix
  18. 18.0 18.1 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxvii-xxxviii
  19. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxxviii
  20. Hinüber 1996, 103
  21. Table based on Bullitt, 2002.
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Crosby 2004, 837
  23. 23.0 23.1 Strong 2004, 76
  24. Pranke 2004, 574
  25. 25.0 25.1 25.2 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, xxvii
  26. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli 1999, xxxix-xl

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. "Introduction." In Visuddhimagga: The Path of Purification, translated by Buddhaghosa and Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli. Seattle: Buddhist Publication Society, 1999. ISBN 1928706010
  • Crosby, Kate. "Theravada." In Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104
  • von Hinüber, Oskar. A Handbook of Pali Literature. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1996. ISBN 8121507782
  • Pranke, Patrick A. "Myanmar." In Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104
  • Strong, John. "Buddhaghosa." In Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr. USA: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 0028659104

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