Buddhaghosa

Buddhaghosa was a Sinhalese scholar working at the great monastery in Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka, in the 5th century. He saw himself as part of the Vibhajyavāda school and the lineage of the Sinhalese mahāvihāra. His project was synthesizing older Sinhala commentaries on the Theravāda scriptural canon into a coherent philosophical system. The result was the Visuddhimagga, the "Path of Purification" — a comprehensive guide that became the principal Theravāda text on meditation. By the 12th century his interpretations had hardened into orthodoxy. Western scholars and Theravādin Buddhists alike reco…