Visuddhimagga Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Ācārya Buddhaghosa is known as the Aṭṭhakathākāra, the commentator, because he wrote the Pali commentaries on the Tipiṭaka in Sri Lanka in the fifth century.

He is not known as a Vaiyākaraṇa, a grammarian, nor as a Nāṭakakāra, a dramatist, nor as a physician, Vaidya. His fame rests on commentaries and the Visuddhimagga, which is why D is the key.

The Visuddhimagga is also by him, but the title of commentator is the one that applies to the large body of his work.

Answer: C

Ācariya Buddhaghosa uses the word 'Jaṭā', meaning a tangle, for Taṇhā, craving, in the opening verse of the Visuddhimagga. The tangle inside and the tangle outside refers to the net of craving that entangles beings.

Jarā means old age, Saṅkhāra means formations and Kesa means hair. These words are used in other senses and are not what the commentator calls the tangle, so the answer is C.

The tangle in the verse is explained by the commentator as craving, which entangles beings in the round of birth.

Answer: B

The third Nidesa of the Visuddhimagga is Panna, which is option (B). Buddhaghosa arranged the work under the three heads of Sila, Samadhi and Panna, which are virtue, concentration and wisdom, and the third of them is Panna. Sila (A) is the first, Samadhi (C) is the second, and Dhutanga (D) is a section within the Silaniddesa on ascetic practices. This question tests the Pali commentaries, the chronicles of Sri Lanka and the history of the language, and the answer follows the final UGC answer key issued after the grievances, so the keyed option is the one to learn together with the facts that separate it from the other options.

Answer: C

The verse occurs in the Samyuttanikaya, option (C). 'Anto jata bahi jata, jataya jatita paja' is the question a deity puts to the Buddha in the Jata Sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya, and the Buddha replies with the verse on the person of virtue and wisdom who untangles the tangle.

Saratthappakasini and Sumangalavilasini are commentaries on the Samyutta and the Digha, and Atthasalini is the commentary on the Dhammasangani. The verse is quoted in commentaries, but it occurs in the Samyuttanikaya itself, so (A), (B) and (D) are wrong.

Answer: D

Buddhaghosa wrote the Visuddhimagga at the request of the elder Sanghapala, who asked him to compose the work after discussion. Revata was the teacher who sent Buddhaghosa to Sri Lanka, Ananda was the Buddha's attendant and Moggallana his chief disciple, so neither fits. The answer is Sanghapala. The story is told in the Mahavamsa: Buddhaghosa had written a work called Nanodaya and a commentary on the Dhammasangani before going to the island, and in Sri Lanka he was asked to write the great treatise. The request came from the elder Sanghapala, who is named in the opening verses of the work.

Answer: D

The Visuddhimagga has twenty-three chapters, grouped under virtue (sila), concentration (samadhi) and wisdom (panna), with the first two chapters on virtue, eleven on concentration and the rest on wisdom. Three, thirteen and thirty-seven do not match the number of its chapters, so twenty-three is correct. The first two chapters deal with virtue, the third to eleventh with concentration, and the rest, from the twelfth, with wisdom. The structure follows the threefold training of virtue, concentration and wisdom, and the total of the chapters is twenty-three.