Buddhaghosa

2.1. Origins and Early Life

Traditional accounts, particularly from the Mahāvaṁsa, state that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, near Bodh Gaya, in central India. He was said to be a master of the Vedas and traveled throughout India engaging in philosophical debates. His conversion to Buddhism occurred after he was decisively defeated in a debate by a Buddhist monk named Revata. Initially challenged on the meaning of a Vedic doctrine, Buddhaghosa was then confounded by a teaching from the Abhidhamma. Impressed by Revata's wisdom, Buddhaghosa became a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk) and dedicated himself to the study of the Tripiṭaka and its commentaries. Upon discovering a text whose commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa resolved to travel to Sri Lanka, where a Sinhala commentary believed to preserve the original teachings was said to be preserved.

However, the details of the Mahāvaṁsa account cannot be easily verified and are often regarded by Western scholars as embellished with legendary events, such as deities hiding his text. While the Mahāvaṁsa claims his birth near Bodh Gaya in northern India, the epilogues to his commentaries only mention Kanchipuram in southern India as a place of at least temporary residence. Consequently, some scholars, including Oskar von Hinüber and Polwatte Buddhadatta Thera, suggest that Buddhaghosa was actually born in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, and that later biographies may have relocated his birthplace to establish closer ties to the Buddha's region. The Buddhaghosuppatti, a later biographical text, is largely considered legendary rather than historical. It adds details such as the identity of his parents and village, dramatic episodes like his father's conversion, and his role in a legal case. It also controversially claims that Buddhaghosa collected and burned the original Sinhala manuscripts after completing his Pali commentaries, explaining their eventual loss.

2.2. Academic Activities in Sri Lanka

Upon his arrival in Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa settled at the Mahāvihāra in Anuradhapura, where he began studying a vast collection of Sinhala commentarial texts that had been meticulously assembled and preserved by the resident monks. Recognizing the importance of these commentaries, Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize them into a comprehensive single commentary written in Pali, the canonical language of Theravāda Buddhism.

Traditional accounts describe that the elder monks at the Mahāvihāra first tested Buddhaghosa's profound knowledge. They assigned him the task of elaborating on the doctrine concerning two verses from the suttas. In response, Buddhaghosa composed his magnum opus, the Visuddhimagga. His abilities were further tested when, according to legend, deities intervened and concealed the text of his book twice, forcing him to recreate it from memory. When all three versions were found to perfectly summarize the entire Tipiṭaka and match in every detail, the monks were convinced of his extraordinary scholarship and granted his request, providing him with the complete body of their Sinhala commentaries.

2.3. Compilation of the Visuddhimagga

The Visuddhimagga (Visuddhimagga^Pali, "Path of Purification") is Buddhaghosa's most famous work, composed as a demonstration of his knowledge to the elder monks of the Mahāvihāra. It serves as a comprehensive manual of Theravada Buddhism and remains a foundational text for study and practice today. The work systematically summarizes older Sinhala commentaries on Theravāda doctrine and meditation practices. According to Sarah Shaw, it is considered "the principal text on the subject of meditation" within Theravāda Buddhism. Maria Heim notes that Buddhaghosa's work on the Visuddhimagga was so influential that it rendered the original Sinhala versions obsolete, leading to their eventual loss.

2.4. Commentary on the Pali Canon

Following the successful compilation of the Visuddhimagga, Buddhaghosa embarked on an extensive project of synthesizing and translating a large body of ancient Sinhala commentaries on the Pāli Canon into Pali. He went on to write commentaries on most of the major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures. While traditional accounts attribute all of these commentaries to him, some modern scholars suggest that Buddhaghosa might have been the head of a team of scholars and translators, a scenario considered plausible by Maria Heim. His efforts established a standardized and systematic approach to understanding the Buddhist scriptures.

2.5. Later Life and Transmission

After completing his major scholarly works in Sri Lanka, traditional accounts suggest that Buddhaghosa returned to India, reportedly making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay respects to the Bodhi Tree. Other accounts, particularly from Myanmar, suggest he may have traveled there. The modern form of Sri Lankan Buddhism was significantly shaped by scholars like Buddhaghosa.

Buddhaghosa's fame and influence grew over time, inspiring various accolades. His life story was expanded into the Pali chronicle known as the Buddhaghosuppatti, though this text is largely considered more legendary than historical. Despite his Indian birth, some traditions, such as those among the Mon people of Myanmar, later claimed him as their own, possibly to assert primacy over Sri Lanka in the development of Theravāda tradition. However, some scholars believe these Mon records refer to a different figure whose name and personal history were modeled after the Indian Buddhaghosa.

Crucially, Buddhaghosa's works played a significant role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the primary scriptural and scholarly language of Theravāda Buddhism. Pali also served as a lingua franca facilitating the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravāda countries of mainland Southeast Asia. Prior to his arrival in Sri Lanka, the development of new analyses of Theravāda doctrine in both Pali and Sinhala had reportedly diminished. In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy, such as the Mahayana, were emerging, often utilizing classical Sanskrit as their scriptural language and philosophical language. The monks of the Mahāvihāra may have sought to counter these developments by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously disused secondary sources that had vanished in India. Buddhaghosa's commentaries, which combined the authority of the oldest Sinhala commentaries with the use of Pali-a language shared by all Theravāda learning centers of the time-provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravāda intellectual tradition. This likely aided the Theravāda school in maintaining its position against the challenges posed by emerging Buddhist schools in mainland India.

3.1. The Visuddhimagga

The Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification) is Buddhaghosa's most celebrated and influential work. It is structured as a comprehensive manual outlining the path to purification and insight within Theravāda Buddhism. The text systematically presents the three trainings: virtue (sīla^Pali), concentration (samādhi^Pali), and wisdom (paññā^Pali). It details various meditation practices, including both calm abiding and insight meditation, providing specific techniques and terminology.

The doctrine presented in the Visuddhimagga reflects Theravāda Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not explicitly found in the earliest discourses (suttas) of the Buddha. For instance, it includes non-canonical instructions on Theravāda meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta^Pali)," which point to later developments in the tradition. The Visuddhimagga serves as a principal guide for practitioners seeking purification and insight, meticulously detailing the stages of the path.

3.2. Attributed Commentaries

The Mahāvaṁsa attributes a great many books to Buddhaghosa, though some scholars believe that certain works traditionally ascribed to him were composed later and attributed to his name. Below is a list of the fourteen commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā^Pali) on the Pāli Canon traditionally ascribed to Buddhaghosa, often based on pre-existing materials. According to K.R. Norman, there is evidence that some parts of these commentaries are very ancient, possibly dating back to the time of the Buddha himself.

While traditional accounts list Buddhaghosa as the author of all these works, some scholars contend that only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four Nikayas (Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṁyutta, and Aṅguttara) are definitively his. Maria Heim, for instance, attributes to Buddhaghosa the commentaries on the first four Nikayas, the Samantapasadika, the Paramatthajotika, the Visuddhimagga, and the three commentaries on the books of the Abhidhamma. Maria Heim also notes that some modern scholars propose that Buddhaghosa might have served as the head of a team of scholars and translators, a scenario she considers plausible.

3.3. Commentarial Method and Style

Buddhaghosa was remarkably explicit and systematic in outlining his hermeneutical principles and exegetical strategies within his commentaries. He not only wrote extensively on texts but also theorized about genre, registers of discourse, reader response, Buddhist knowledge, and pedagogy.

His writing style is characterized by a "relentless accuracy, consistency, and fluency of erudition," often dominated by formalism, as noted by Nanamoli Bhikkhu. Richard Shankman contrasts the Visuddhimagga's "meticulous and specific" nature with the Pali suttas, which can sometimes be vague and open to various interpretations.

Buddhaghosa viewed each Pitaka of the Buddhist canon as a distinct method (naya^Pali) requiring different skills for interpretation. One of his most important ideas regarding the exegesis of the Buddha's words (buddhavacana^Pali) is that these words are immeasurable, implying that there are innumerable ways to teach and explain the Dhamma and, similarly, countless ways to receive these teachings. According to Maria Heim, Buddhaghosa considered the Dhamma to be "well-spoken... visible here and now, timeless." This "visibility" suggests that the fruits of the path can be observed in the behavior of the noble ones, and that comprehending the Dhamma is a transformative way of seeing with immediate impact. This emphasis on the immediate and transformative impact of the scriptures was vital to Buddhaghosa's interpretative practice, aligning with the suttas' attestations of the Buddha's words' immediate effect on his audiences.

3.4. Key Philosophical and Meditative Concepts

Buddhaghosa's systematic thought is deeply rooted in Abhidhamma, which Maria Heim and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad describe as a phenomenological "contemplative structuring" expressed in his writings on Buddhist practice. They argue that Buddhaghosa's use of nāma-rūpa should be understood as an analytical tool for comprehending how experience is undergone, rather than an account of how reality is structured.

Philosopher Jonardon Ganeri has highlighted Buddhaghosa's unique theory of consciousness and attention, which he terms "attentionalism." This approach prioritizes the faculty of attention in explaining thought and mind activities, contrasting with representationalism. Ganeri also suggests that Buddhaghosa's treatment of cognition "anticipates the concept of working memory, the idea of mind as a global workplace, subliminal orienting, and the thesis that visual processing occurs at three levels." He further notes that Buddhaghosa is distinctive among Buddhist philosophers for discussing episodic memory as a reliving of personal past experience, while preventing its reduction to self-representation in the past. Buddhaghosa develops the alternative claim that episodic memory is a phenomenon of attention with greater sophistication than seen elsewhere. Ganeri views Buddhaghosa's work as free from both a mediational picture of the mind and the Myth of the Given, concepts he attributes to the Indian philosopher Dignāga.

Regarding meditation, the Visuddhimagga's doctrine reflects Theravāda Abhidhamma scholasticism, which includes several innovations and interpretations not found in the earliest suttas. It contains non-canonical instructions on Theravāda meditation, such as "ways of guarding the mental image (nimitta^Pali)," indicating later developments in the tradition. Thanissaro Bhikkhu notes that the Visuddhimagga employs a "very different paradigm for concentration" compared to what is found in the Canon.

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also points out that the suttas and the Visuddhimagga present differing views, leading to a divergence between scholarly and practical understandings of meditation. Gunaratana highlights that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms not found in the suttas, such as parikamma samadhi^Pali (preparatory concentration), upacara samadhi^Pali (access concentration), and appanasamadhi^Pali (absorption concentration). He also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis on kasina-meditation is not present in the suttas, where dhyana is consistently combined with mindfulness.

Bhikkhu Sujato has argued that certain views on Buddhist meditation expounded in the Visuddhimagga represent a "distortion of the Suttas" because they deny the necessity of jhana. The Australian monk Shravasti Dhammika is also critical of contemporary practice based on this work, suggesting that Buddhaghosa himself might not have believed that following the practice outlined in the Visuddhimagga would lead to Nirvana. This interpretation is based on the text's postscript, which states the author's hope to be reborn in heaven and await the appearance of Maitreya (Metteyya^Pali) to teach the Dhamma. However, the Burmese scholar Venerable Pandita argues that this colophon is not by Buddhaghosa himself. Despite these criticisms, Sarah Shaw acknowledges that "it is unlikely that the meditative tradition could have survived in such a healthy way, if at all, without his detailed lists and exhaustive guidance." Nevertheless, by the 10th century, vipassana practice had largely ceased in the Theravāda tradition due to the belief that Buddhism had degenerated and liberation was unattainable until Maitreya's arrival. It was later reintroduced in Myanmar in the 18th century by Medawi, leading to the 20th-century Vipassana movement, which re-invented vipassana meditation and developed simplified techniques based on the Satipatthana sutta, the Visuddhimagga, and other texts, emphasizing satipatthana and bare insight.

4.1. Standardization of Theravada Doctrine

In the 12th century, the Sri Lankan (Sinhala) monk Sāriputta Thera became the leading scholar of Theravāda following the reunification of the Sri Lankan monastic community by King Parakramabahu I. Sāriputta Thera extensively incorporated many of Buddhaghosa's works into his own interpretations. In the subsequent years, numerous monks from Theravāda traditions across Southeast Asia sought ordination or re-ordination in Sri Lanka, drawn by the reputation of the Sri Lankan Mahāvihāra lineage for doctrinal purity and scholarship. This led to the widespread dissemination of the teachings of the Mahāvihāra tradition-and, consequently, Buddhaghosa's commentaries-throughout the Theravāda world. As a result, Buddhaghosa's commentaries became the standard method for understanding the scriptures, solidifying his position as the definitive interpreter of Theravāda doctrine.

4.2. Revival of Pali and Scholarly Contributions

Buddhaghosa's works played a crucial role in the revival and preservation of the Pali language as the primary scriptural language of Theravāda Buddhism. Pali also served as a lingua franca facilitating the exchange of ideas, texts, and scholars between Sri Lanka and the Theravāda countries of mainland Southeast Asia. Before Buddhaghosa's emergence in Sri Lanka, the development of new analyses of Theravāda doctrine in both Pali and Sinhala appears to have diminished. In India, new schools of Buddhist philosophy, such as the Mahayana, were gaining prominence, many of them utilizing classical Sanskrit as both a scriptural language and a philosophical discourse. The monks of the Mahāvihāra may have sought to counter the growth of such schools by re-emphasizing the study and composition in Pali, along with the study of previously disused secondary sources that might have vanished in India, as evidenced by the Mahāvaṁsa. The addition of Buddhaghosa's works-which combined the authority of the oldest Sinhala commentaries with the use of Pali, a language shared by all Theravāda learning centers of the time-provided a significant boost to the revitalization of the Pali language and the Theravāda intellectual tradition. This likely aided the Theravāda school in surviving the challenge posed by emerging Buddhist schools of mainland India.

4.3. Impact on Southeast Asian Buddhism

The profound influence of Buddhaghosa's teachings and commentaries extended far beyond Sri Lanka. Through the spread of the Sri Lankan Mahāvihāra lineage, his interpretations significantly shaped the Buddhist traditions and monastic education in countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. His systematic approach to doctrine and meditation became a cornerstone of Theravāda practice throughout the region.

4.4. Scholarly Assessment

Modern scholars widely assess Buddhaghosa as one of the most significant figures in Buddhist history. Maria Heim describes him as "one of the greatest minds in the history of Buddhism." British philosopher Jonardon Ganeri considers Buddhaghosa "a true innovator, a pioneer, and a creative thinker." His comprehensive and systematic approach to Theravāda doctrine and his role in preserving and interpreting the Pali Canon are widely recognized as foundational contributions to the Theravāda intellectual tradition.

5.1. Interpretational Debates

One area of criticism concerns whether Buddhaghosa's interpretations align perfectly with the earliest Buddhist suttas. Some scholars, such as David Kalupahana, have argued that Buddhaghosa was influenced by Mahayana thought, which he subtly mixed with Theravāda orthodoxy. Kalupahana suggests that this influence introduced new ideas that eventually led to the flourishing of metaphysical tendencies within Theravāda, contrasting with the original emphasis on anattā (not-self) in early Buddhism. However, Jonardon Ganeri counters that while Buddhaghosa may have been influenced by Yogācāra Vijñānavāda thought, this influence manifested not as endorsement but as "creative engagement and refutation."

Furthermore, the Thai Buddhist scholar Buddhadasa has argued that Buddhaghosa was influenced by Hindu thought, and that the uncritical respect accorded to the Visuddhimagga has, in some ways, hindered the practice of authentic Buddhism. These criticisms highlight concerns that Buddhaghosa's interpretations might have introduced elements or emphases not fully consistent with the earliest canonical texts.

5.2. Authenticity and Influence Debates

Scholarly questions persist regarding the precise attribution of certain commentaries and works to Buddhaghosa. While the Mahāvaṁsa ascribes a vast number of books to him, some scholars contend that several of these were composed at a later date and merely attributed to his name to lend them authority. For instance, some researchers argue that only the Visuddhimagga and the commentaries on the first four Nikayas are definitively Buddhaghosa's work. Maria Heim, while acknowledging the debates, attributes a broader range of works to him, including the Samantapasadika, the Paramatthajotika, the Visuddhimagga, and three commentaries on the books of the Abhidhamma. She also notes the plausible theory that Buddhaghosa might have led a team of scholars and translators, rather than undertaking the entire monumental task alone.

These debates extend to the nature and extent of his philosophical influences on Theravāda Buddhism. While his contributions are undeniable, the discussions around the originality of his interpretations, the sources of his philosophical ideas, and the authorship of his attributed works continue to be areas of active scholarly inquiry.