Dhammaquelle Texts, Talks and Meditations

Vimuttimagga

The older manual — the same path, more briefly put, and preserved only by way of the Chinese.

The Vimuttimagga, the "Path of Freedom", is probably the older of the two manuals: twelve chapters, the same three trainings, without the grid of the seven purifications. Three stages lead through it and show, at the points where the two books diverge, what depends on the canon and what on the arrangement of the author.

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Stage 1 · The older manual

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Here for the first time?

What is the Vimuttimagga?
A manual of the same tradition, probably older than the Visuddhimagga. The Pāli text is lost; what survived is a Chinese translation from the 6th century, from which it was translated back into English. The text therefore stands here in English — and every quotation gives that English wording itself, where the German pages set a German rendering beneath it.
Does one have to read this?
No, and least of all first. For the path itself the learning path is enough. This book earns its place where it differs from the younger one — three stages that prepare that comparison.
What is quoted here
Each stage gives its own commentary and quotes the book only in excerpts, each with its location and a link to the chapter. The wording of every quotation is found again in the text of the book when the page is built — what stands here in quotation marks stands there in those words.

A “stage” orders the material — it is not a ranking and not a stage of realisation.

The unbroken line is the path from stage 1 to stage 3; dashed arcs show which stage additionally builds on an earlier one. Filled dot = finished for now, outline = open; the current stage is highlighted.

Foundations Stage 1

  1. The older manual

    “Why is there a second manual beside the Visuddhimagga?”

    Finished for now

    The Vimuttimagga is probably the older of the two manuals. It treats the same three trainings in the same order, but is markedly shorter, sets out differently in some places — and is lost in Pāli. What lies here is the translation back from a Chinese version.

    Three trainings tisikkhā Serenity and insight samatha-vipassanā Wisdom paññā Immersion samādhi The unconditioned nibbāna Path magga

    What these terms mean — Stage 1: The older manual
    Three trainings tisikkhā
    The division of the path into virtue (sīla), immersion (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā): the way one lives carries the meditation, and meditation carries the insight.
    Serenity and insight samatha-vipassanā
    The two sides of mental training: calming and collecting (samatha) and clear seeing (vipassanā). DN 34 names both as the two things that must be developed — not separate techniques, but qualities that belong together.
    Wisdom paññā
    Wisdom, the liberating insight into the three characteristics.
    Immersion samādhi
    One-pointed collectedness of mind.
    The unconditioned nibbāna
    The unconditioned; the going out of the fuel.
    Path magga
    Path (supramundane); the moment that cuts through the fetters.
    Open stage →

Advanced teaching Stages 2–3

  1. Virtue and concentration

    “How does the older book describe the first two trainings?”

    Finished for now

    Chapters 2 to 9 treat the first two thirds of the way: virtue, voluntary austerity, concentration, the good friend, the knowledge of one's own temperament, the objects of practice and the entrance into absorption. What stands out is how much room the book gives to the question who it is that practises.

    Immersion samādhi Absorption jhāna Meditation subject kammaṭṭhāna One-pointedness ekaggatā Five ethical precepts pañcasīla Hindrance nīvaraṇa

    What these terms mean — Stage 2: Virtue and concentration
    Immersion samādhi
    One-pointed collectedness of mind.
    Absorption jhāna
    A state of collected attention resting in itself; the canon describes four such stages and names for each the factors that carry it.
    Meditation subject kammaṭṭhāna
    The subject one works with in practice; the training in concentration knows forty of them.
    One-pointedness ekaggatā
    One-pointedness, collectedness (a jhāna factor).
    Five ethical precepts pañcasīla
    Not to kill, not to take what is not given, no sexual misconduct, no false speech, no intoxicants: training rules (sikkhāpada) that one takes upon oneself — protection for others and a condition for a quiet mind.
    Hindrance nīvaraṇa
    One of the five things that keep the mind from settling — sensual desire, ill will, dullness, restlessness and doubt.
    Open stage →

  2. Wisdom and truth

    “What does the older manual end with?”

    Finished for now

    The last three chapters are the third training. Wisdom is determined as the seeing of things as they are; the five methods set out the material — aggregates, sense spheres, elements, dependent arising, truths; and the closing chapter brings both together in the discerning of the four truths.

    Wisdom paññā Aggregate khandha Sense base āyatana Dependent arising paṭiccasamuppāda Four noble truths cattāri ariyasaccāni Not-self anattā

    What these terms mean — Stage 3: Wisdom and truth
    Wisdom paññā
    Wisdom, the liberating insight into the three characteristics.
    Aggregate khandha
    Aggregate (rūpa, vedanā, saññā, saṅkhāra, viññāṇa).
    Sense base āyatana
    Sense base (six internal, six external).
    Dependent arising paṭiccasamuppāda
    Dependent arising; the twelve conditionally linked links, without a self running through them.
    Four noble truths cattāri ariyasaccāni
    The overall model of the teaching: dukkha; its arising (craving); its ceasing (Nibbāna); the practice that leads to its ceasing (the eightfold path). Each truth has its own task: to understand, to abandon, to realise, to develop.
    Not-self anattā
    Not-self; without a lasting core that one could own or command.
    Open stage →

For looking things up

Vimuttimagga

The English version by Ehara, Soma and Kheminda, twelve chapters, readable in full under Study on this site. The stages quote from it giving the exact location and keep its English wording — on the German pages a German rendering stands beneath every quotation.

Visuddhimagga

The other manual treats the same path — differently ordered and differently detailed. Reading both, one sees from the difference what comes from the canon and what from the arrangement of the author.

The learning path

The first way through the teaching — from the opening question to awakening, in the language of the discourses. It remains the entry point; the book paths are its companion, not its replacement.

The three stages order the material for study — they replace neither your own practice nor qualified guidance.