The Noble Path to Eternal Bliss The Essence of Visuddhi Magga (Volume 1)

The person who is endowed with the three kinds of wisdom and the three kinds of morality, concentration and energy men- tioned above will succeed in disentangling the tangle of craving.

Just as a man stands on the ground, wields a sword or axe which is well sharpened, and cuts a large bamboo grove to clear it away, so too a person, standing firmly on the ground of morality, gripping the sharp, powerful weapon of insight meditation with the might of strenuous effort and raising it with the hand of all purpose wisdom (parihāriya paññā), can cut off and clear away the tangle of craving from his mind.

About 1600 years ago (412 A.C.) Venerable Buddhaghosa, based on the Pāļi verse mentioned above, wrote "Visuddhi Magga", meaning "the Path of Purity" or "the Path of Purification". "Purity' or 'Purification' should be understood as 'Nibbana' which is free from all taints and utterly pure.

"Visuddhi Magga" is considered to be an excellent compen- dium of the Buddha's doctrine covering the st