The Vimuttimagga A Critical Study

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The Book Vimuttimagga was written by Rev. Upatissa. It is said that this text was written before the Visuddhimagga. The Vimuttimagga was written in Pali Language but its Original is lost. In the year 1963 two editors from Sri Lanka pub-lished the Vimuttimaggo in Sinhalese Script and Pali Language and claimed that it was original. In this present book the author has inquired about the authenticity of the Sinhalese edition and has also edited it in Devanagari Script.

Lalan Kumar Jha completed his Certificate and Diploma in Pali Language and Literature from the Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi. He also completed his M.A., M. Phil. and Ph.D. from the same Department of the same University. For his Ph.D. he went to Sri Lanka on the Scholarship of Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund and was associated with Kelaniya University of Sri Lanka. This is his second book. His first book was entitled 'Buddhism: A Humanistic Approach.' He has deep interest in the Theravada Buddhism and has presented various articles on different topics related with Buddhist concepts in national/ international seminars. At present he is working as R.A. under the D.S.A. Programme of the U.G.C. in the Department of Buddhist Studies.

The present book entitled The Vimuttimagga: A Critical Study is the revised edition of the thesis entitled "A Critical Edition and Study of the Vimuttimagga" prepared and submitted by the author to the University of Delhi and which has been declared fit for the award of degree of Ph.D. in the Year 2003. About authorship of the book Vimuttimagga, it is almost accepted by the most of the scholars that it was written by Rev. Upatissa. I being the supervisor of the researcher, am in the well close touch of the problems he has scholastically presented. Although the authorship of the book Vimuttimagga remain all the time a hot debate but the contents of the text is not at all beyond any controversy. It is of the opinion of the most of the scholars that it might have as a base book for the preparation of the Visuddhimagga (an abridged version of the Tipitaka) authored by the great commentator Rev. Buddhaghosa.

The theme of the Vimuttimagga has been discussed critically and an attempt has been made by the author to judge the authenticity of this book. The author has some reason to comment confidently about the authenticity of this book which the readers can find in the introduction and at the end of every chapter. With simple and lucid examples Rev. Upatissa tried to present the main points of the Theravada Buddhism. There is no least controversy about the theme of the text as this is purely based on the Pali Tipitaka which contains the Buddhavacana in its original form.

The author of this present book has prepared this text after editing the Sinhalese version of the Vimuttimagga (in Sinhalese Script) and consulting allied Manuscripts of the Vimuttimaga in Sinhalese too. This author being a serious learner of the Pali Language has tried his level best to edit this text faultlessly in Devanagari Script and has also critically commented on the various aspects of the text. This text has never appeared before in Devanagari Script. I personally appreciate the maiden effort of the scholar in bringing the book in Devanagari Script.

This text will be certainly be beneficial to the scholars interested in the field of pali literature and understanding the Dhamma of the Buddha. This may be prescribed as a text book of any post graduate course offered by any department in Indian Universities. I bless the author from the core of my heart and wish more such success and academic contribution in future. I am much delighted to see this work in the book form.

The present book entitled "The Vimuttimagga: A Critical Study" is the result of my studies of the text Vimuttimagga for my doctorate degree under the supervision of Ven. Prof. Bhikshu Satyapala, submitted to the University of Delhi in 2002.

The Vimuttimagga is an ancient Pali text of the Theravada Buddhism. Its original Pali Version is lost. At present it is available only in the Chinese Translation work. It was written by Rev. Upatissa in the 2nd century C.E. Availability of this text was brought into light in the modern times by Prof. M. Nagai of Imperial University, Tokyo. He wrote an article which was published in the journal of the Pali Text Society, in 1917-19. This book has been also catalogued by Bunyiu Nanjio and its number is 1293 in this catalogue. According to Nanjio it was written by Sariputta. But Prof. Bapat worked on this book comparing it with the Visuddhimagga. He submitted his Thesis for the partial fulfilment of the Ph.D. degree in Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. U.S.A. in 1932 and subsequently it was published by him in the book form in 1937 from Poona (now Pune). So far as authenticity of the Vim. is concerned the above mentioned book is the most authentic work done on the text Vim. With his erudite scholarship he established that the Vim. was a product of India (South India) and it was written by Rev. Upatissa. His hypothesis became stronger when he published an Eng. translation of a Tibetan text - "The Vimuktimarga Dhutaguņanirdesa". It is the third chapter of the Vim. i.e. Dhutangani. It was translated into Tibetan by an Indian Pandita Vidyakaraprabha. In the colophon of this Tibetan text the name of its writer Rev. Upatissa is given. Based on this Prof. Bapat wrote that this book was available in India upto 8th century A.D.

The Vimuttimagga is an ancient Pali text written by Rev. Upatissa. The existence of this book was brought into light by Prof. M. Nagai of the Imperial University Tokyo, Japan in 1919 through on article published in the journal of Pali Text Society. It's original is lost. There was a general opinion that this book belonged to Mahayana tradition. In the beginning there was also controversy about its author. But now it has been established that this book belongs to Theravada tradition and it's writer is Rev. Upatissa. The name of this book in Chinese translation is Cie-to-tao-lun. It has been numbered as 1293 in the catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tipitaka prepared by Bunyiu Nanjio.

Some Important Works Done on This Book
After its puplication from the JPTS some of the have made comments on this book. One of the most authentic works on this book has been done by Prof. P.V. Bapat. In 1932 he submitted his dissertation to the Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. U.S.A. in partial fulfilmnet of the requirements if or the Doctorate of Philosophy. After five years in 1937, it was published from Poona with the title Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga. A Comparative Study. It was translated from original Pali into Chinese by a combodian monk named Samghapala in the 6th century C.E. From the Chinese translation an English translation was published in 1961 by a team of authors Rev. N.R.M. Ehara, Soma Thera and Kheminda Thera³. This book was also translated into Japanese language by R. Higata and its name in japanese language is Gedasu-Do-Rao.