विसुद्धिमग्गचुल्लटीका सङ्खेपत्थजोतानी (सील धुतङ्गनिद्देसवण्णना)- Visuddhimaggacullatika Sankhepatthajotani (Sila Dhutanganiddesavannana)

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Abhidhamma has been a very lively subject for the Acaryas. In spite of the existence of commentarial, sub-commentarial and other texts in the Abhidhamma tradition, they composed many manuals, summarizing the contents of the text in a precise, systematic and brief manner. A treatise on the Visuddhimagga namely Sankhepatthajotani was written by an unknown scholar. It is also known as Cullatika of Visuddhimagga. It was composed in order to supplement Paramatthamanjusa, the Mahatika of Visuddhimagga. Gandhavamsa mentions Visuddhimaggacullatika but does not supply an individual name such as Paramatthamanjusa, Sankhepatthajotani etc. So it is not certain if the text referred to in Gandhavamsa is the same or not. Sankhepatthajotani is 'abridged explanation of the meaning of the terms and concepts', which have been described in Visuddhimagga by Acarya Buddhaghosa. A brief explanation of the terms and concepts of Visuddhimagga are found in Sankhepatthajotani. Many passages from the Paramatthamanjusa are available in Sankhepatthajotani since Paramatthamanjusa is a very detailed composition and sometimes has lengthy explanation of the term. Therefore, this Visuddhimaggacullatika is named as Sankhepatthajotani.

The present Devanagari edition of first two chapters of Sankhepatthajotani Visuddhimaggacullatika (sila-dhutanga) is based upon this Roman edition, edited by Jion Abe and published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Poona, in 1981. The division and the arrangement of the subject matter of these two chapters have been done in the Devanagari edition of this text on the basis of Paramatthamanjusa (3 volumes) edited by Revatadhamma and published by Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi in 1969.

BIMALENDRA KUMAR did his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from University of Delhi in 1990 and has been teaching since then for 30 years in various Universities such as Delhi University, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan (W.B.) and Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P.). Currently, he is working as a Professor and Head, Department of Pali & Buddhist Studies, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U.P.). He has six years of research experience during his doctoral and post-doctoral education. His areas of interest are Pali, Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy (Abhidhamma Philosophy) and Tibetan Buddhism. He has total of fifteen books to his credit as an editor. He has published more than 100 articles and has been Editor of The Mahabodhi and Dharmadoot Journals, being published by Maha Bodhi Society of India, Kolkata and Sarnath respectively. He has been in action at various national and international seminars, workshops and conferences. He has Visiting assignments at different Universities. He has been also Coordinator and the Conveners of many seminars /conferences. He has been on numerous academic bodies of Universities and institutes and other academic bodies, and as a member of the governing boards of the organizations. He had academic visits to Portugal, U.K., West Germany, France, Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Nepal, Vietnam and China. Twenty-five research scholars have been awarded Ph. D. Degree under his supervision.

Visuddhimagga was composed by Acarya Buddhaghosa at the request of Sanghapala Thera. A Commentary on the Visuddhimagga, called the Paramatthamanjusa was written by Dhammapala. Visuddhimaggaganthi was written by Chapada, who stayed in Ceylon from 1170 to 1180 A.D. It is also called as Visuddhimaggaganthipada. Dharmananda Kosambi calls it Viduddhimaggassa Ganthipadam, but it is known by the title of Ganthi without qualification. Visuddhimagga ganthipadattha was written by Saradassi, a monk of Ava. The Visuddhimaggadipani, a sub-commentary on Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, was written by a monk named Uttararama of Lanna Kingdom who belonged to the forest monastery. Dharmananda Kosambi wrote a lucid commentary in Pali on the Visuddhimagga known as Visuddhimaggadipika . Another treatise on the Visuddhimagga namely Sankhepatthajotani was written by an unknown scholar. It is also known as Cullatika of Visuddhimagga. It was composed in order to supplement Paramatthamanjusa, the Mahatika of Visuddhimagga. Gandhavamsa mentions Visuddhimaggacullatika but does not supply an individual name such as Paramatthamanjusa, Sankhepatthajotani etc. So it is not certain if the text referred to in Gandhavamsa is the same or not. If it is, we can say that Sankhepatthajotani was composed before the 16th century A.D. Further Gandhavmsa states that twenty including Ganthi and Visuddhimaggacullatika were written by twenty acariyas. However, Jion Abe has concluded that it was composed in one place or the other. Eleven manuscripts of this text are known, all of which are now preserved in, the National Library, Bangkok. The editor's name appears as Rama I to V of the Bangkok Kingdom.

Meaning of the term Sankhepatthajotani

Regarding the meaning of the term Sankhepatthajotani, it is said that this Cullatika of Visuddhimagga follows the Paramatthamanjusa and it was composed in order to supplement the Paramatthamanjusa,:. Mahatika of Visuddhimagga. As we know that Ganthi was composed to make understandable the difficult terms, which have come into Visuddhimagga. The significance of this tika is that it has the explanations of the terms, which do not agree with Visuddhimagga and Paramatthamanjusa. It is not a direct commentary (anutika) of Paramatthamanjusa, which is considered as Mahatika. That is why, it is called as Cullatika. The word Sankhepatthajotani is made up of three words Sankhepa, Attha and Jotani. Sankhepa means brief, abridgement; Attha means meaning and Jotani means explanation. Thus, meaning of the Sankhepatthajotani is 'abridged explanation of the meaning of the terms and concepts', which have been described in Visuddhimagga by Acarya Buddhaghosa. It means that brief explanations of the terms and concepts of Visuddhimagga are found in Sankhepatthajotani. Many passages from the Paramatthamanjusa are available in Sankhepatthajotani as Paramatthamanjusa is a very detailed composition and sometimes has lengthy explanation of the term. Therefore, this Visuddhimaggacullatika is named as Sankhepatthajotani.

However, there is a commentary with the name of 'Sankhepa' as ' Sankhepatthakatha' , which is the abridged version of any commentary, 'Abhidhammatthakatha'. It is the commentary on Abhidhammapitaka and also known as 'Sankhepatthakatha . There is also a small text or 'Manual of Abhidhamma, which is known as 'Saccasankhepa', written by Culladhammapalacariya. There are explanation of abhidhammic elements in the light of real and ultimate truths. There is another text named as ' Sankhepavannana , which was composed by Saddhammajotipalacariya at the request of king Parakkamabahu.

**Contents and Sample Pages**