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A Manual of the Excellent Man: Uttamapurisa Dipani
This manual is written in reply to a layperson requesting guidance in developing insight, clarifying doctrinal aspects, and advancing from a blind worldling to a wise and virtuous person who has the eye of knowledge. In clear, concise, vivid language the author explains the perfections, seven aspects of the five aggregates to be perceived, the true peace of Nibbana, how to be mindful while doing a meritorious deed, practicing the three refuges, the four types of Buddhists, and understanding the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination. Included is an exhortation regarding great opportunities for human rebirth, meeting the Buddha, becoming a bhikkhu, having confidence, and hearing the Dhamma.
- GenresBuddhismSpirituality
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2001
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About the author
Ledi Sayadaw
19 books17 followersThe Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, Aggamahapandita, D. Litt. was an influential Theravada Buddhist monk. He was recognized from a young age as being developed in both the theory (Abhidhamma) and practice of Buddhism and so was revered as being scholarly. He wrote many books on Dhamma in Burmese and these were accessible even to a serious lay person, hence he was responsible for spreading Dhamma to all levels of society and reviving the traditional practice of Vipassanā meditation, making it more available for renunciates and lay people alike.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 22, 2020
The perfect being (man or woman) from the Buddhist point of view - the human as spiritual being. The path and the trek to the top, the how, the tools, the personality.
An English translation of the translation & exposition into Burmese by the Ven. Ledi Sayadaw from the original Pali treatise Uttama Purush Dipani. Uttama = excellent / perfect, Purusha = person / being, Dipani = exposition / explanation / description.
An English translation of the translation & exposition into Burmese by the Ven. Ledi Sayadaw from the original Pali treatise Uttama Purush Dipani. Uttama = excellent / perfect, Purusha = person / being, Dipani = exposition / explanation / description.
May 31, 2022
Ledi Sayadaw wrote this book over a period of 7 weeks in 1900. That is how badass and hard working these monks were back in the day, incredible. If you want an in depth book on Buddhist theory and many many lists about the '4 types of students' and subcatagories of patyi-buddahs and their characteristics then this book is for you. I am not nearly as interested in the intellectual foundations of Buddhism though.
February 27, 2025
# 👍🏻 What I Liked About It
- A practical course on the development of insight. An exposition on the Excellent Man (uttamapurisa) leading to enlightenment along the three stages of comprehension that penetrate the real nature of psychophysical phenomena.
# 👎🏻 What I Didn't Like About It
- It’s too complicated, for me, to understand all the phenomena and explanations.
My main interest was trying to understand the fundamentals of so called “virtuous” life, and yet, after reading this book I was completely lost, totally vanished and has no understanding what’s or ever. Maybe it’s just “me”, who isn’t ready to grasp the truth or just so arrogant and ignorant in his “self-observation”, but I have to say that this book brings me more confusion than clarity…
- “Ignorance is not something that needs to be cultivated. This veil of darkness has always been inherent in living beings. Knowledge, on the other hand, is something that has to be cultivated. This is possible only by following the Buddha’s teaching.” - The Buddhist’s bias…
# 👨🎓 What I’ve Learned
- So, one must take great care in choosing a mentor; bad counsel can bring bitter consequences for one’s actions, quite undeservedly.
- Since volition is the key factor behind any action, if one can discard attachment to the nonexistent self in respect of volition, personality view becomes extinct. If personality view in volition can be eradicated from one’s psyche, the other mental factors can never again be associated with the deluded self.
- The reality of the fire of death and other fires such as lust, hatred, delusion, birth and aging, has to be properly understood, and the moment it is understood, its antithesis of calm, tranquility, or peace is realized.
# 📜 Quotes
“No pleasure marred with the inherent fire of death is real happiness. In truth it is only suffering. That is why real happiness exists only when aging and death can arise no more. Then, and only then, is happiness real and true. That happiness is called deliverance or “escape” (nissaraóa).”
“The abandonment of desire and lust for materiality constitutes the escape (nissaraóa) from materiality.”
“What is the practice leading to the cessation of materiality? It is the Noble Eightfold Path taught by me: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. These eight constitute the path.”
“Vicikicchá or doubt is a close associate of ignorance or delusion. Doubt is of two kinds: doubt relating to the Dhamma and doubt relating to the soul or self. A traveller in unfamiliar terrain, having lost his bearings, thinks that the right way is wrong. He is confused and cannot decide which is the right way. Likewise, due to ignorance, one does not know the earth as the earth element. Doubt makes one vacillate concerning the truth, it also dampens one’s fervour to continue in the search for truth. This is doubt about the Dhamma.”
“There are two highways. One highway leads to the truth of suffering, the other leads to the truth of happiness. All actions done with ignorance lead to suffering. They make up the high road to suffering, which has been laid down under the supervision of aging and death since the dawn of time.”
“Once, a frog was accidentally killed while listening with rapt attention to the mellifluous voice of the Buddha preaching. He was reborn as a deva from the merit of listening attentively to the Dhamma (even though he did not understand its meaning). Immediately, he came to pay homage to the Buddha, listened to his discourse, and gained stream-winning. In his next existence he became an Arahant. From this story we can see that there are just a few forms of existence in which a disciple’s enlightenment is attained.”
- A practical course on the development of insight. An exposition on the Excellent Man (uttamapurisa) leading to enlightenment along the three stages of comprehension that penetrate the real nature of psychophysical phenomena.
# 👎🏻 What I Didn't Like About It
- It’s too complicated, for me, to understand all the phenomena and explanations.
My main interest was trying to understand the fundamentals of so called “virtuous” life, and yet, after reading this book I was completely lost, totally vanished and has no understanding what’s or ever. Maybe it’s just “me”, who isn’t ready to grasp the truth or just so arrogant and ignorant in his “self-observation”, but I have to say that this book brings me more confusion than clarity…
- “Ignorance is not something that needs to be cultivated. This veil of darkness has always been inherent in living beings. Knowledge, on the other hand, is something that has to be cultivated. This is possible only by following the Buddha’s teaching.” - The Buddhist’s bias…
# 👨🎓 What I’ve Learned
- So, one must take great care in choosing a mentor; bad counsel can bring bitter consequences for one’s actions, quite undeservedly.
- Since volition is the key factor behind any action, if one can discard attachment to the nonexistent self in respect of volition, personality view becomes extinct. If personality view in volition can be eradicated from one’s psyche, the other mental factors can never again be associated with the deluded self.
- The reality of the fire of death and other fires such as lust, hatred, delusion, birth and aging, has to be properly understood, and the moment it is understood, its antithesis of calm, tranquility, or peace is realized.
# 📜 Quotes
“No pleasure marred with the inherent fire of death is real happiness. In truth it is only suffering. That is why real happiness exists only when aging and death can arise no more. Then, and only then, is happiness real and true. That happiness is called deliverance or “escape” (nissaraóa).”
“The abandonment of desire and lust for materiality constitutes the escape (nissaraóa) from materiality.”
“What is the practice leading to the cessation of materiality? It is the Noble Eightfold Path taught by me: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. These eight constitute the path.”
“Vicikicchá or doubt is a close associate of ignorance or delusion. Doubt is of two kinds: doubt relating to the Dhamma and doubt relating to the soul or self. A traveller in unfamiliar terrain, having lost his bearings, thinks that the right way is wrong. He is confused and cannot decide which is the right way. Likewise, due to ignorance, one does not know the earth as the earth element. Doubt makes one vacillate concerning the truth, it also dampens one’s fervour to continue in the search for truth. This is doubt about the Dhamma.”
“There are two highways. One highway leads to the truth of suffering, the other leads to the truth of happiness. All actions done with ignorance lead to suffering. They make up the high road to suffering, which has been laid down under the supervision of aging and death since the dawn of time.”
“Once, a frog was accidentally killed while listening with rapt attention to the mellifluous voice of the Buddha preaching. He was reborn as a deva from the merit of listening attentively to the Dhamma (even though he did not understand its meaning). Immediately, he came to pay homage to the Buddha, listened to his discourse, and gained stream-winning. In his next existence he became an Arahant. From this story we can see that there are just a few forms of existence in which a disciple’s enlightenment is attained.”
March 30, 2024
Not a bad book, but the Venerable Sayadaw is clearly not a philosopher. The book is light on argumentation and heavy on assertions.
This book gave me more detail on foundational aspects of Theravada Buddhism such as the Aggregates and Dependent Origination, among others. Lots of threatening about hell woven in here, however - a book clearly designed to frighten the complacent Buddhist into becoming a serious practitioner, and I took some inspiration from it. However, much of it amounts to rather dogmatic assertions rather than points that are well argued for. The Venerable Sayadaw was obviously a very learned man, but he uses awkward, unclear metaphors (often mixing them), and as I mentioned, doesn't really explain anything – rather, he merely assures you that what he is telling you true and correct.
This book is not philosophy, although the back cover categorises it as 'Buddhism/Philosophy'. Philosophy must include some argumentation, and the reader of this text receives very little. It is probably better regarded as an example of Buddhist apologetics than anything else.
What I did like about this book was the continual emphasis on practice and insight from one's own experience, rather than from scriptural learning. But other writers make this point far better and with much less dogmatism thrown in, so I'd recommend reading elsewhere if you're looking for inspiration to practise.
This book gave me more detail on foundational aspects of Theravada Buddhism such as the Aggregates and Dependent Origination, among others. Lots of threatening about hell woven in here, however - a book clearly designed to frighten the complacent Buddhist into becoming a serious practitioner, and I took some inspiration from it. However, much of it amounts to rather dogmatic assertions rather than points that are well argued for. The Venerable Sayadaw was obviously a very learned man, but he uses awkward, unclear metaphors (often mixing them), and as I mentioned, doesn't really explain anything – rather, he merely assures you that what he is telling you true and correct.
This book is not philosophy, although the back cover categorises it as 'Buddhism/Philosophy'. Philosophy must include some argumentation, and the reader of this text receives very little. It is probably better regarded as an example of Buddhist apologetics than anything else.
What I did like about this book was the continual emphasis on practice and insight from one's own experience, rather than from scriptural learning. But other writers make this point far better and with much less dogmatism thrown in, so I'd recommend reading elsewhere if you're looking for inspiration to practise.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews