Theravada

Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikāya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. These developed in India during the century subsequent to the death of the Buddha. The name of the school means "Teachings of the Elders" which implies that this was the most conservative school of Buddhism, a school that has attempted to conserve the original teachings of the Buddha. Adherents trace their lineage back to the Sthaviras (Pali: Theras; "Elders") of the First Buddhist Council when 500 arahants, including Mahakasyapa chose a position of orthodoxy to keep all the "lesser and minor" rules set by Gautama Buddha.

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Theravada is the longest surviving of the twenty schools, and for many centuries has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka and continental Southeast Asia (parts of southwest China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand). It is sometimes labeled as Hinayana ("Inferior Vehicle") in opposition to the Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle"), but this term is now widely seen as either inaccurate or derogatory. Theravada is sometimes referred to as Southern Buddhism. The oldest surviving use of the term Theravada in writing appears in the 7th century CE in that school's own manuscripts. In that document, according to Andre Bareau (Les sectes bouddhique du Petit Vehicule, p. 205), Theravada defines itself as a separate school, in distinction to the Mahasanghika, the Sarvastivada, and the Sammatiya. Today Theravada Buddhists number over 100 million worldwide, and in recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West.

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Buddhism: Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived between approximately 566 and 486 BCE in India. Buddhism gradually spread from India throughout Asia to Central Asia, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia, as well as to East Asian countries su...

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