Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

IntroductionIn his Pali Literature of Ceylon, Dr. G. P. Malalasekera has this to sayon the subject:(a) "The Vimutti-magga is an Abhidharnma exegesis, serving as a compendiumfor that portion of Buddhist literature . . ., and in some pointsthe Chinese work seems to have been influenced by the Mahayana doctrine"(p. 86).(B) He says, further, that if it is granted that the Vimuttimagga wastaken to China by some of the schools of approximately the same tradition, "itwould not be difficult to conclude that the Visuddhi-rnagga and Vimutti-maggaare more or less independent works, written by men belonging to much thesame school of thought — the Thera-vdda" (pp. 87-88).Regarding the statement (a) above, it will be seen that very little Abhidhammais found in the Vimuttimagga, though of course, it begins by sayingthat he who wishes to "lead those on the other shore to perfection, should beversed in the Sutta, Abhidhamma and Vinaya". Here, the late Venerable NanamoliThera's opinion on the subject will be of interest: "However the Vimuttimaggaitself contains nothing at all of the Mahayana, its unorthodoxies beingwell within the 'Hinayana' field". Again he says: "Also Abhidhamma, whichis the keystone of Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa's exegesis, is not used at allin the Vimuttimagga (Aggregates, Truths, etc., do not in themselves constituteAbhidhamma in the sense of that Pitaka). There is, for instance, even in itsdescription of the Consciousness Aggregate, no reference to the DhamrnasanganVsclassification of 89 types, and nothing from the Patthdna; and thoughthe 'Cognitive Series' is stated once in its full form (in Ch. n) no use is madeof it to explain conscious workings. This Vimuttimagga is in fact a book ofpractical instruction, not of exegesis" (Path of Purification Introduction pp.XXVII-XXVIII). The statement of the Venerable Dhammapala Thera in theParamatthamahjusd quoted earb'er seems to disallow (B) above.The Venerable Buddhadatta Maria Nayaka Thera in the Pali Text Society'sedition of the Saddhammappajotikd refers to Prof. Nagai's view that theauthor of the Vimuttimagga was the Venerable Upatissa Thera who flourishedduring King Vasabha's reign, 66-109 A. c. He says, "However, there is nosuch great difference as cannot be bridged between his supposition and mine"(Introduction p. vni).Regarding the view that the Vimuttimagga was a work written at theAbhayagiri Monastery, the late Venerable Jsjanamoli Thera rightly says, "Thatit (the Vimuttimagga) contains some minor points accepted by the AbhayagiriMonastery does not necessarily imply that it had any special connection withthat centre. The sources may have been common to both. The disputedpoints are not schismatical. Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa himself never mentionsit" (Introduction, xxvm).Prof. Dr. P. V. Bapat in the Introduction (p. liv) to his careful work"Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga, A Comparative Study" (1937), hasexamined a great deal of material. In support of his theory that the Vimuttimaggaoriginated in India, he puts forward, among others, the followingreasons (p. liv): (a) "It is very likely that Vimuttimagga was one of the booksbrought over from India. From the internal evidence of the book we may saythat there is no reference to any name 2 or place in Ceylon". If the view of"2. Unless the name Narada (p. 134) referred to any high personage from Ceylon, whichseems to be very improbable". This name is found at S. II, 117-18. See p. 321.XXXVII