Vimuttimagga

Part of a series on
Theravāda Buddhism
Buddhism
History Pre-sectarian Buddhism Early schools Sthaviras Buddhist councils Vibhajjavāda Mahāvihāra Tambapaṇṇiya Dīpavaṃsa Mahāvaṃsa Pali Text Society
Key figures Bhāṇaka Moggaliputta-Tissa Mahinda Sanghamitta Tissa Buddhaghoṣa Buddhadatta Dhammapāla Parakramabahu I Mahākassapa (12th century) Sāriputta (12th century) Anawrahta Ram Khamhaeng Sumangala Thera Anagarika Dharmapala Mongkut Vajirananavarorasa Ledi Sayadaw U Nu U Nārada Mahasi Sayadaw U Ba Khin S. N. Goenka Mun Bhuridatta Ajahn Chah Maha Ghosananda Kripasaran Mahapragya Pragyananda K. Sri Dhammananda Narada Mahathera Asoka Weeraratna Walpola Rahula Jayatilleke Kalupahana U Dhammaloka Nyanatiloka Nanamoli Nyanaponika Bhikkhu Bodhi Ajahn Sumedho Ajahn Brahm Analayo Varanggana Vanavichayen Dhammananda Bhikkhuni Ayya Tathaaloka Ayya Khema Kee Nanayon Dipa Ma
Literature Pāli Tipiṭaka Paracanonical Commentaries Sub-commentaries Paritta Visuddhimagga Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha Vimuttimagga Abhidhammāvatāra Yogāvacara's manual
Orders (Nikāya) Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Mahā Dhammayuttika Myanmar Thudhamma Shwegyin Mahādvāra Mūladvāra Veḷuvana Anaukchaung-dvāra Hngettwin Gaṇavimutti Dhammayuttika Sri Lanka Amarapura–Rāmañña Siam Bangladesh Saṅgharāja Mahāsthabir
Traditions Pariyatti, paṭipatti, paṭivedha Abhidhamma Vassa Pavāraṇā Vipassana movement Kammaṭṭhāna Thai Forest Sri Lankan Forest Esoteric Theravāda Dhammakaya
Festivals Vesākha Pūjā Māgha Pūjā Āsāḷha Pūjā Kaṭhina Abhidhamma Day Uposatha
Higher education MBU MCRU IBC ITBMU SPSU BPU Sihanouk Sihamoni CSC Sangha College Kertarajasa Syailendra Nalanda DDIBU
v t e

The Vimuttimagga ("Path of Freedom") is a Buddhist practice manual, traditionally attributed to the Arahant Upatissa (c. 1st or 2nd century^[1]). It was translated into Chinese in the sixth century as the Jietuo dao lun 解脫道論 by Sanghapala. The original text (possibly Pali or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit) is no longer extant, but the work has survived in Chinese. The book was probably written in India and then later brought to Sri Lanka.^[1] Some doctrines of the Vimuttimagga have been associated with those attributed to the Abhayagiri monastery by Dhammapāla, but this has been disputed in recent scholarship.^[2][3]

The Vimuttimagga recommends various meditation practices such as Anapanasati, Kasina meditation and Buddha-anussati - recollection of the virtues of the Buddha. Its chapters are (based on the translation by Ehara, Soma & Kheminda):

1. Introductory Discourse (referencing the three trainings and ultimate freedom)^[4]
2. On Distinguishing Virtue
3. On Austerities
4. On Distinguishing Concentration
5. On Approaching a Good Friend
6. The Distinguishing of Behavior
7. The Distinguishing of the Subjects of Meditation
8. Entrance into the Subject of Meditation
9. The Five Forms of Higher Knowledge
10. On Distinguishing Wisdom
11. The Five Methods (aggregates, sense organs, elements, conditioned arising, truth)
12. On Discerning Truth

The Vimuttimagga bears a striking similarity to the Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa, and it is highly probable that it had an influence on Buddhaghosa.^[5] While the Visuddhimagga is a much longer work, both texts differ on several points. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, the Chinese version of the Vimuttimagga states that ascetic practices (dhutanga) can be unwholesome and wholesome while the Visuddhimagga denies that they can be unwholesome, although he notes that the Tibetan Vimuktimārga classifies ascetic practices as "wholesome".^[6] A similar difference can be seen with regards to concentration (samādhi) which the Vimuttimagga states can be wholesome or unwholesome (micchā samādhi/邪定) while the Visuddhimagga disagrees that it can be unwholesome.^[7] Another major difference is in the scheme of the progress of insight, which the Vimuttimagga arranges based on the Four Noble Truths and the Visuddhimagga arranges based on the seven purifications which stem from the Rathavinīta-sutta.^[8]

Minor differences can also be seen in the particular schemes of practice. Upatissa gives four categories of Śīla while Buddhagosa gives five. Upatissa gives four ways of cultivating Anapanasati, while Buddhagosa gives eight.^[5] In addition, the Visuddhimagga identifies forty subjects of meditation (kammatthana) while the Vimuttimagga identifies thirty-eight.^[9]

• Buddhaghosa
• Visuddhimagga
• Patisambhidamagga
• Samatha
• Vipassanā

• Analayo, Bhikkhu (2009), "The Treatise on the Path to Liberation (解脫道論) and the Visuddhimagga" (PDF), Fuyan Buddhist Studies (4), ISSN 2070-0512
• Bapat, P.V. (1937), Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga - A Comparative Study
• Crosby, Kate (1999), "History versus Modern Myth: The Abhayagirivihāra, the Vimuttimagga and Yogāvacara Meditation", Journal of Indian Philosophy, 27 – via https://www.scribd.com/document/94761137/The-Abhayagirivihara-The-Vimuttimagga-and-Yogavacara-Meditation-Kate-Crosby {{citation}}: External link in |via= (help)
• Vajira, Sister; Story, Francis (1998), Maha-parinibbana Sutta: Last Days of the Buddha (DN 16), Access to Insight, retrieved 12 October 2014

• Chinese Translation within the Taisho Tripitaka Translated by Sanghapala

• The Path to Freedom, Vimuttimagga (Volume I & II) Translated by Bhikkhu N. Nyanatusita. Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, 2021.
• The Path Of Freedom (Vimuttimagga) of Arahant Upatissa Translated from the Chinese by Rev. N. R. M. Ehara, Soma Thera, Kheminda Thera. Buddhist Publication Society. Kandy, Ceylon
  • Available in digital formats (PDF, HTML, ePub) from https://eudoxos.github.io/vism
• Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga by P. V. Bapat