Clearing the Path

'Clearing the Path' is the first volume of the collected writings of Ñāṇavīra Thera. It contains his most important writings: those that originated after he attained sotāpatti (Stream-entry) on 27.06.1959. 'Clearing the Path' is supplemented by 'Seeking the Path', a second volume consisting of his early writings (1954-1960) and marginalia. In March 1963 Ñāṇavīra Thera wrote to one of his correspondents: 'With regard to any of my past writings that you may come across [...] I would ask you to treat with great reserve anything dated before 1960, about which time certain of my views underwent a modification. If this is forgotten you may be puzzled by inconsistencies between earlier and later writings'. (L. 49) 'Clearing the Path' consists of the final version of the author's principal work, 'Notes on Dhamma (1960-1965)', faithfully restored from the original manuscript, followed by the letters he exchanged with several interested individuals during the last five years of his life. Part of the correspondence started after 'Notes on Dhamma' was first published and carefully distributed as a private edition of 250 cyclostyled copies, and can be regarded as something of a commentary on the Notes. 'Notes on Dhamma' has been variously described as 'arrogant, scathing, and condescending', as 'a fantastic system', and as 'the best and most important book on Buddhism ever written by a Westerner'. Ñāṇavīra Thera himself remarked of the book that 'it is vain to hope that it is going to win general approval [...] but I do allow myself to hope that a few individuals [...] will have private transformations of their way of thinking as a result of reading [the Notes]'.