SaddavimÃÂlà(Lao: à ºªà º±à ºÂà ºÂà º°à º§à º´à º¡à º°à º¥à º° , lit. Purity through Words) (French: La Pureté par les Mots) is a vernacular Buddhist text preserved in Lao and Khmer manuscript traditions and edited by the French scholar François Bizot together with François Lagirarde. The work is associated with yogÃÂvacara/kammaá¹Âá¹ÂhÃÂna meditation lineages of Mainland Southeast Asia and has been used by scholars as evidence for a wider "Southern Esoteric Buddhism".
The title SaddavimÃÂlàappears in Lao and Khmer manuscripts; EFEO projects use the transliteration conventions published in the BizotâÂÂLagirarde edition.
Working from Lao and Cambodian sources, Bizot and Lagirarde produced the first critical presentation of the text in 1996 (EFEO). Their edition also notes comparative material from a Northern Thai manuscript tradition.
Scholars identify passages linking bodyâÂÂsyllable visualizations and cosmological schemata typical of yogÃÂvacara/kammaá¹Âá¹ÂhÃÂna materials. One study notes the mapping of the five syllables naâÂÂmoâÂÂbuâÂÂddhÃÂâÂÂya to five BuddhasâÂÂan exegetical motif also seen in related traditions. A brief section near the beginning incorporates the imagery of the "five-branched fig tree", resonating with other Khmer/Lao yogÃÂvacara texts.
SaddavimÃÂlàis frequently cited in discussions of the TaiâÂÂKhmer kammaá¹Âá¹ÂhÃÂna (yogÃÂvacara) tradition documented by Bizot and later scholars, which emphasizes ritualized syllables, diagrams, and internal visualizations alongside standard TheravÃÂda practices.
The EFEO volume includes philological studies such as Ole Holten Pind's analysis of SaddavimÃÂlà12.1âÂÂ11 and its possible Mà «lasarvÃÂstivÃÂdin sources. More recent work situates the text within broader discussions of DhammakÃÂya-type visualizations and "Southern Esoteric Buddhism".