Buddhaghosa

In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa studied voluminous comments that had been collected and preserved by the monks of Mahavihara of Anuradhapura, the capital of the island. Then he asked permission to synthesize the comments into a single book he would write in the language of the Tipitaka, the Pali. The monks began the first of the test by asking him to expose the dhamma starting with a quatrain that they gave him, and Buddhaghosa wrote the Visuddhimagga.

Buddhaghosa was a Buddhist scholar of the fifth century. Buddhaghosa means "the sound of awakening", its translation in Chinese is Juéyīn. During his stay in Sri Lanka, he wrote numerous reviews of the Pali Tipitaka and their synthesis, Visuddhimagga, fundamental work for the schools of Theravada Buddhism. Learn about Hathapradipika at Hatha Yoga .

When his work was finished, Buddhaghosa returned to India to go on pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya.

According to the Mahavamsa, Buddhaghosa was born in a Brahmin family in the area of Bodh Gaya, India. He mastered the Vedas and traveled through India by practicing the philosophical debate. But when he was defeated by a Buddhist monk named Revata which relied on the Abhidhamma, he himself became a Buddhist monk and took up the study of the Tipitaka and its commentaries. Having found a text whose commentary no longer existed in India, he took the advice of Revata and went to Sri Lanka to study the commentary Sinhalese still preserved.

But the gods hid twice the work completed, forcing the author to start, then reappear made three versions that proved identical. Convinced, the monks gave all texts appropriate to Buddhaghosa, who retired to the Monastery of the library to be reflected in the calm in Sinhalese Pali comments. The masters of tradition considérèrent that the result had the same value as the original texts. This happened during the reign of King Mahanama.