Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

INTRODUCTIONN the Journal of the Pali Text Society of 1919, there appeared an articleI by Prof. Dr. M. Nagai on "The Vimutti-Magga, 'The Way to Deliverance' ".Referring to it Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys Davids in a letter dated September 20,1936 to the translators of the Gedatsu Do Ron (Vimuttimagga) said, "Thenas to the issuing of the book (referring to the Path of Freedom) in a volumeof print: Were this society in easier circumstances enjoyed by it up to theGreat War, when we were immensely helped by the princely donations ofyour wealthy men, I would undertake at once to publish the work with Prof.Nagai's excellent article in our Journal, 1919, as preface, with anything heliked to add. Or, if you objected, I should ask you three to write your ownpreface, making such references to his article as you thought fit".This article of Prof. Nagai took the Buddhist world by surprise; for,according to the Culavamsa chapter xxxvn, 236-39, when the VenerableBuddhaghosa Thera had written the Visuddhimagga at the behest of the Mahdsangha,the devas had hidden it and he had to write it afresh. When thiswas done, it too was hidden by the devas. So, when he wrote it for the thirdtime and presented it to the Mahdsangha, it is said, the devas produced thefirst two copies. It was then found that the three copies agreed in every detail.The record goes on to say (Cv. Ch. xxxvn, 241-43): 'Then the bhikkhusread out all the three books together. Neither in composition and content,nor also as regards the sequence (of the subjects), in the teaching of the Theras,in the quotations, in words, and sentences was there any kind of deviationin ail three books. Then the community satisfied and exceedingly well pleased,cried again and again: "without doubt, this is Metteyya!" and handed overto him the books of the three Pitakas together with the commentary' —Dr. Geiger's translation. By this statement it was, perhaps, only intended tostress the Venerable Buddhaghosa Thera's great ability, which is amply borneout by this (i.e., the Visuddhimagga) and his later works. No other viewseems to be warranted, or else it has to be conceded that the MahaviharaTheras knew very well that the Bodhisatta Metteyya could not have beenborn in this world at this time; — see, for instance, the earlier statement ofthe Mahdvamsa at Ch. xxxn, 73: 'Awaiting the time when he shall becomea Buddha, the compassionate Bodhisatta Metteyya dwells in the Tusita-city'—Dr. Geiger's translation. Further, that the Venerable Buddhaghosa Theraand the Bodhisatta Metteyya are two different persons has been establishedby the Venerable Buddhaghosa Thera himself in his Postscript to the Visuddhimagga(found only in the Sinhalese texts and translated by Nanamoli Thera):