Visuddhimagga 

The ‘Path of Purification’, one of the most influential Pāli commentarial texts. This compendium of Buddhist doctrine and metaphysics was written by Buddhaghoṣa (5th century ce) at the request of Saṇghapāla Thera. It is the most important book written by this author, providing a systematic exposition of Buddhist teaching besides being a detailed manual for meditation. The structure of the work follows the three divisions of the Eightfold Path into morality (śīla), meditation (samādhi) and insight (prajñā). The commentary to the Visuddhimagga was compiled by Dhammapāla and is known as the Paramattamañjūsā or Mahā-Ṭikā. According to tradition, the two stanzas quoted at the beginning of the book were given to Buddhaghoṣa as a test by the monks of the Mahāvihāra when he asked permission to translate the Sinhalese commentaries into Pāli. The Visuddhimagga seems to have been inspired by the earlier Vimuttimagga of Upatissa.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)

Visuddhi-Magga

An encyclopedia of the Buddha’s teaching, written by Buddhaghosa at the request of Sanghapāla Thera. It is said (Cv.xxxvii.236) that when Buddhaghosa arrived at the Mahāvihāra and asked permission to translate the Singhalese Commentaries into Pāli, the monks, to test him, gave him two stanzas (quoted at the beginning of the book) on which they asked him to write a thesis. As soon as he had finished this, the devas hid the copy, and the same thing happened after it was rewritten. He then rewrote it a third time, and when it was being read in the assembly of monks, the two previous copies suddenly reappeared and were found to agree in every detail with the new one.

For a description of the book, see Law, Hist. of Pāli Lit., ii.399f. A Commentary on the work exists, called the Paramatthamañjūsa by Dhammāpāla (P.L.C. 113; Svd.1231), and a Visuddhimaggaganthipadattha was written by Sāradassī, a monk of Ava. (Sās.116; Bode, op. cit., 56).

Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973), which is available as printed version from

visuddhimagga : [m.] the path to obtain holiness.

A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]