Theravada

Theravada

During the reign of Emperor Asoka in India, the third Council was held in
Pataliputra (250 BCE). The President of the Council, Moggaliputta Tissa,
compiled a book called the Kathavatthu attempting to refute what he
saw as the heretical, false views and theories held by some sects. The
teaching approved and accepted by this Council was known as
Theravada. The Abhidhamma Pitaka was included at this Council. Thus
the modern Pali Canon was now essentially completed. It was brought
by Venerable Mahinda to Sri Lanka in 246 BCE and was committed to
writing in 110 BCE. It is still in use today by Theravadins.

Theravada is the longest surviving Buddhism school, and for many
centuries has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka{78%} and
continental Southeast Asia (parts of southwest China, Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar, Malayasia, Indonesia,Vietnam and Thailand). It is also gaining
popularity in Singapore and Australia. It emerged from the split which
occurred at The Second Buddhist Council. The term Theravada, which
literally means "The Way of the Elders", first appears in writing in the 7th
century CE in the school's own manuscripts and implies that the school
attempts to maintain the Buddha's teachings as authentically as
possible. 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.

It is sometimes labeled as Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle") in opposition to the
Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle"), but this term is now widely seen as either
inaccurate or derogatory.

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, schools
which developed during the 5 centuries after the Buddha's death.
Today Theravada Buddhists number over 100 million worldwide, and in
recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West.

Theravada promote the concept of Vibhajjavada (Pali), literally
"Teaching of Analysis" which uses critical methods of investigation as
opposed to blind faith. With this method the answer has to be
discovered by the aspirant, after being convinced by valid thought and
experience, in order to reach the first glimpse of the goal.

The Theravadin goal is the achievement of the state of Arahant (lit.
"worthy one", "winner of Nibbana"), a life where all (future) birth is at an
end, where the holy life is fully achieved, where all that has to be done
has been done, and whereupon there is no more returning to the
worldly life. In the Theravadin view, the attainment of arahatship is
equal in every way to the realization attained by the Buddha himself.
The Buddha remains a figure of reverence even for arahats because he
was able to attain nibbana without the aid of any teacher or outside
instruction—he is said to be 'fully self-enlightened' in many Pali verses of
praise. Only after the development of the Mahayana did the insight or
knowledge attained by an arhat come to be seen as a lesser form of
that attained by the Buddha himself.