Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Buddhism in Translations - § 79. The Attainment of N...

Henry Clarke WarrenPali Canon TranslationsTheravada Buddhism

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This is a translated excerpt from the Visuddhi-Magga (Path of Purification), a foundational Theravada Buddhist treatise, specifically from its chapter on the attainment of Nirvana. The passage outlines the soteriological rewards of developing transcendent wisdom across four progressive "paths," describing in precise detail how many future rebirths remain for practitioners at each stage — from a maximum of seven rebirths for the weakest first-path attainer down to zero for the third-path non-returner. A notably systematic feature is its taxonomy of the third-path attainer's five possible destinies (entering Nirvana mid-life, at life's end, with or without external urging, or ascending through heavenly realms), and its enumeration of six distinct types of fourth-path arahants distinguished by their mode of liberation (faith, wisdom, both, special knowledges, or psychic powers). The passage presents Nirvana not merely as an abstract goal but as a graduated process with concrete, quantified outcomes tied to the sharpness of one's spiritual faculties. It closes with a verse framing wisdom cultivation as the resolution of a "snarl" — a recurring metaphor for conditioned existence — and positions the fully liberated arahant as the supreme object of veneration in the entire world of gods and humans. Anyone interested in the mechanics of Buddhist soteriology, the Theravada doctrine of stages of awakening, or the Visuddhi-Magga's analytical style will find this a dense and representative sample.

Buddhism in Translations - § 79. The Attainment of N...

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