Dear Robert,
r> Why do you think the Vimuttimagga is not available in Pali. Why
r> didn't the venerable order preserve it along with the
r> Visuddhimagga.
It's an interesting question.
r> You gave this reply in an earlier post about
r> it;"To Robert Kirkpatrick:
r> Indeed Vimuttimagga contains Mahayana-like allusions to Bodhisattvas
r> and Mahasattvas. That may be the reason why it didn't survive in Pali
r> version."
r>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pali/message/1345
However now it seems to me not a valid reason, since the terms
'bodhisatta" and 'mahasatta' are used as well in the Atthakatha.
So these terms fit well the Theravada tradition.
The extensive quotations from Vimuttimagga in the
'Samskrta-asamskrta-vini'scaya' by Dasabalasrimitra testify that
Vimuttimagga was still available in India in the 12th century CE, as a
representative Theravada work. However the consequent decline of
Buddhism in India meant the extinction of numerous texts.
The texts were well preserved in Sri Lanka. However since the
venerable members of Mahavihara didn't completely agree with
Vimuttimagga, they evidently didn't bother very much to preserve it.
Best wishes,
Dimitry