I was doing some research, and I came across some very interesting information. The predecessor of Atisha could have been a Buddhist monk of the southern tradition, Buddhagosha, who wrote the Lamrim for that tradition: the Visudhimagga, or path to purification.
The Vishuddimagga is a text or work that sums up all the teachings of the southern tradition, arranged in the order that they should be practiced, much like the Lamrim:
The Visuddhimagga (Pali; English The Path of Purification), is the 'great treatise' on Theravada Buddhist doctrine written by Buddhaghosa approximately in 430 CE in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive manual condensing the theoretical and practical teaching of the Buddha, it is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka canon of scriptures.[1] The Visuddhimagga?s structure is based on the Ratha-vinita Sutta ("Relay Chariots Discourse," MN 24), which describes the progression from the purity of discipline to the nibbana, considering seven steps.[2]
t is composed of three parts, which discuss: 1) S?la (ethics or discipline); 2) Sam?dhi (meditative concentration); 3) Pañña (understanding or wisdom).
The first part explains the rules of discipline, and the method for finding a correct temple to practice, or how to meet a good teacher.
The second part describes samatha's practice, object by object (see Kammatthana for the list of the forty traditional objects). It mentions different stages of concentration.
The third part is a description of the five skandhas (aggregates), ayatanas, the Four Noble Truths, dependent origination (Pratitya-samutpada), and the practice of vipassana through the development of wisdom. It emphasizes different forms of knowledge emerging because of the practice. This part shows a great analytical effort specific to Buddhist philosophy.
Now, isnt that the Lamrim's structure?
this text was written in the 5th century and never made it to india as it was written in Sri Lanka.
Here's something interesting about the author:
Limited reliable information is available about the life of Buddhaghosa. Three primary sources of information exist: short prologues and epilogues attached to Buddhaghosa's works; details of his life recorded in the Mahavamsa, a Sri Lankan chronicle; and a later biographical work called the Buddhaghosuppatti.[5] A few other sources discuss the life of Buddhaghosa, but do not appear to add any reliable material.[4] His name means "Reverend Teacher" (Bhadanta+?cariya) and "Voice of the Buddha" (Buddha+ghosa) in Pali.[6]
The biographical excerpts attached to works attributed to Buddhaghosa reveal relatively few details of his life, but were presumably added at the time of his actual composition.[4][7] Largely identical in form, these short excerpts describe Buddhaghosa as having come to Sri Lanka from India, and settled in Anuradhapura.[8] Besides this information, they provide only short lists of teachers, supporters, and associates of Buddhaghosa, whose names are not generally to be found elsewhere for comparison.[8]
The Mahavamsa records that Buddhaghosa was born into a Brahmin family in the kingdom of Magadhi.[2] He is said to have been born near Bodh Gaya, and to have been a master of the Vedas, traveling through India engaging in philosophical debates.[9] Only upon encountering a Buddhist monk named Revata was Buddhaghosa bested in debate, first being defeated in a dispute over the meaning of a Vedic doctrine, and then being confounded by the presentation of a teaching from the Abhidhamma.[9] Impressed, Buddhaghosa became a Buddhist monk and undertook the study of the Tipitaka and its commentaries. On finding a text for which the commentary had been lost in India, Buddhaghosa determined to travel to Sri Lanka to study a Sinhalese commentary that was believed to have been preserved.[9]
In Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosa began to study what was apparently a very large volume of commentarial texts that had been assembled and preserved by the monks of the Mahavihara.[10] Buddhaghosa sought permission to synthesize the assembled Sinhalese-language commentaries into a comprehensive single commentary composed in the Pali language.[11] The elder monks sought to first test Buddhaghosa's knowledge, by assigning him the task of elaborating the doctrine regarding two verses of the suttas; Buddhaghosa replied by composing the Visuddhimagga.[12] His abilities were further tested when deities intervened and hid the text of his book, twice forcing him to recreate it from scratch.[11] When the three texts were found to completely summarize all of the Tripitaka and match in every respect, the monks acceded to his request and provided Buddhaghosa with the full body of their commentaries.[11]
Buddhaghosa went on to write commentaries on most of the other major books of the Pali Canon, with his works becoming the definitive Theravadin interpretation of the scriptures.[2] Having synthesized or translated the whole of the Sinhalese commentary preserved at the Mahavihara, Buddhaghosa reportedly returned to India, making a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya to pay his respects to the bodhi tree.[11]
Could this be Atisha's previous reincarnation as he did the same thing that Atisha did, but for the southern tradition, and until now, this text is upheld and made a part of the Pali Canon, under the Abhidhamma section.
