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Theravāda (/ˌtɛrəˈvɑːdə/,[a] lit. 'School of the Elders'[1][2]) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school.[1][2] The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha's teaching or Buddha Dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia.[1][2][web 1]
The Pāli Canon is the most complete Buddhist canon surviving in a classical Indian language, Pāli, which serves as the school's sacred language[2] and lingua franca.[3] In contrast to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine (pariyatti) and monastic discipline (vinaya).[4] One element of this conservatism is the fact that Theravāda rejects the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras (which appeared c. 1st century BCE onwards).[5][6]
Modern Theravāda derives from the Mahāvihāra order, a Sri Lankan branch of the Vibhajjavāda tradition, which is, in turn, a sect of the Indian Sthavira Nikaya. This tradition began to establish itself in Sri Lanka from the 3rd century BCE onwards. It was in Sri Lanka that the Pāli Canon was written down and the school's commentary literature developed. From Sri Lanka, the Theravāda Mahāvihāra tradition subsequently spread to Southeast Asia.[7] Theravāda is the official religion of Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia, and the main dominant Buddhist variant found in Laos and Thailand and is practiced by minorities in India, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, North Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan. The diaspora of all of these groups, as well as converts around the world, also embrace and practice Theravāda Buddhism.
During the modern era, new developments have included Buddhist modernism, the Vipassana movement which reinvigorated Theravāda meditation practice,[web 1] the growth of the Thai Forest Tradition which reemphasized forest monasticism and the spread of Theravāda westward to places such as India and Nepal, along with Buddhist immigrants and converts in the European Union and the United States.
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- ^ a b c Gyatso, Tenzin (2005), Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.), In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications, p. ix, ISBN 978-0-86171-491-9
- ^ a b c d Reynolds, Frank E.; Kitagawa, Joseph M.; Nakamura, Hajime; Lopez, Donald S.; Tucci, Giuseppe (2018), "Theravada", britannica.com, Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Theravada (Pali: "Way of the Elders"; Sanskrit, Sthaviravada) emerged as one of the Hinayana (Sanskrit: "Lesser Vehicle") schools, traditionally numbered at 18, of early Buddhism. The Theravadins trace their lineage to the Sthaviravada school, one of the two major schools (the Mahasanghika was the other) that supposedly formed in the wake of the Council of Vaishali (now in Bihar state) held some 100 years after the Buddha's death. Employing Pali as their sacred language, the Theravadins preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching in the Tipitaka ("Three Baskets").
- ^ Crosby, Kate (2013), Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity, p. 2.
- ^ Gombrich, Richard (2006), Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo, Routledge; 2nd edition, p. 37.
- ^ Hay, Jeff (2009). "World Religions" p. 189. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.
- ^ Buswell, Robert E (2004). Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004), p. 293.
- ^ Prebish, Charles S. (1975), Buddhism – a modern perspective, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN 0271011858, OCLC 1103133
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