On The Path Of Freedom(Vimuttimagga)

The Path Of Freedom，or Vimuttimagga，by Uptissa，is an outline ofBuddhist Philosophy belonging to Theravada school of Buddhism，which isuniversally acknowledged as a must if one would like to do some research on thedoctrines of Theravada。At the very beginning of his essay，Uptissa points out thatto cultivate or practice The Three Practices of Buddhism，namely，virtue（morality），concentration（meditation）and wisdom is the way to liberation，and all the following materials are focused on it。Uptissa’s essay consists oftwelve chapters，whose first three deals with morality concerning The threepractices，The Correct（Noble）Eightfold Path，The Destruction of34-Obstructionto enlightenment，Eight Ways and Four Considerations，The Thirteen Austerities，virtues and practicing approaches included。The next six chapters are about thethirty-eight subjects of meditation，including The Four Meditations，The TenPerceptions of Putrescence，The Ten Recollections，The Ten Kasinas，The FourImmeasurable Thoughts，The Determining of The Four Elements，The Perceptionof The Foulness of Food。And the last three chapters are related to wisdomexplaining the doctrines of The Four Noble Truths，The five Aggregates，TheTwelve Loci，The Twelve Limbs of Dependent Origination，The EighteenCompositional Elements of Human Existence。The author maintains that a yoginshould begin with virtue，followed by meditation and wisdom in sequence。Meanwhile，he certainly attaches the importance to The Three Practices so that hecan make it to the Truth of Cessation through the path of freedom。Due to the fact that Uptissa’s essay is a Buddhist book intended forteaching，which is full of terms。Besides，it is composed in the ancienttime，so sometimes it is obscure for us to understand。My essay attempts tointerpreter Uptissa’s original ideas in modern language，and figure outwhat his ideas and methods of liberation are about，and where his thoughtsderive from。As far as I am concerned，compared with those attached to theenjoyment of objects， or to the other extreme，namely，extremeausterities，which refers to the incomplete practices of non-Buddhists， The Thirteen Austerities(or Dhuta practice) is considered a moderatemethod to carry out what Buddha teaches，which is the upmost virtuesuitable for the yogins with “sharp faculties”。On the concentrationaspect，The theories of Good and Wise Advisor and access-concentrationare distinguishing features in my essay。The author emphasizes the role aGood and Wise Advisor playes during the course of a yogin’s oncentrationand he classifies it into the category of meditation and he deals with it byusing a chapter。Besides，access-concentration also stands out as a systemof cultivation of enlightenment。While at the same time， these twofeatures cannot be found in Northern Buddhism’treatise on concentration，The Yuqie shidi lun(Yogacara-bhumi-sastra)。Thereby， to some extent，they may serve as a complement to The Yuqie shidi lun。 Then，it is TheFive Methods that make liberaton-ology possible and complete the theoryframe on liberation philosophy eventually。...