Therevada Buddhism

Theravāda (; Pāli, lit. "School of the Elders", borrowed from Sanskrit स्थविरवाद (sthaviravāda, literally “doctrine of the elders”) is the most commonly accepted name of

Buddhism

's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of

Gautama Buddha

's teaching or '' Buddha Dhamma'' in the Pāli Canon for over a millennium.

The Pāli Canon is the most complete Buddhist canon surviving in a classical Indian language, Pāli, which serves as the school's sacred language and lingua franca.Crosby, Kate (2013), ''Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity'', p. 2. In contrast to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine (''pariyatti'') and monastic discipline (''

vinaya

''). One element of this conservatism is the fact that Theravāda rejects the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras (which appeared c. 1st century BCE onwards).

Modern Theravāda derives from the Mahāvihāra order, a Sri Lankan branch of the Vibhajjavāda tradition, who are 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 the rest of Southeast Asia. It is the dominant religion in

Cambodia

,

Laos

,

Myanmar

,

Sri Lanka

, and

Thailand

and is practiced by minorities in

India

,

Bangladesh

, China,

Nepal

, and

Vietnam

. 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, 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.

History

Pre-Modern

The Theravāda school descends from the Vibhajjavāda, a division within the Sthāvira nikāya, one of the two major orders that arose after the first schism in the Indian Buddhist community.Cousins, Lance (2001). '
On the Vibhajjavādins"
', Buddhist Studies Review 18 (2), 131–182. Theravāda sources trace their tradition to the Third Buddhist council, when elder Moggaliputta-Tissa is said to have compiled the '' Kathavatthu'', an important work which lays out the Vibhajjavāda doctrinal position.Berkwitz, Stephen C. (2012). ''South Asian Buddhism: A Survey'', Routledge, pp. 44-45.

Aided by patronage of Mauryan kings like

Ashoka

, this school spread throughout India and reached

Sri Lanka

through the efforts of missionary monks like Mahinda. In Sri Lanka, it became known as the Tambapaṇṇiya (and later as Mahāvihāravāsins) which was based at the Great Vihara (Mahavihara) in

Anuradhapura

(the ancient Sri Lankan capital). According to Theravāda sources, another one of the Ashokan missions was also sent to

''Suvaṇṇabhūmi''

("The Golden Land"), which may refer to Southeast Asia.

By the first century BCE, Theravāda Buddhism was well established in the main settlements of the

Kingdom of Anuradhapura

. The Pali Canon, which contains the main scriptures of the Theravāda, was committed to writing in the first century BCE. Throughout the history of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka, Theravāda was the main religion of the Sinhalese people and its temples and monasteries were patronized by the Sri Lankan kings, who saw themselves as the protectors of the religion.

Over time, two other sects split off from the Mahāvihāra tradition, the Abhayagiri and Jetavana.Warder, A.K. ''Indian Buddhism''. 2000. p. 280. While the Abhayagiri sect became known for the syncretic study of Mahayana and Vajrayana texts as well as the Theravāda canon, the Mahāvihāra tradition did not accept these new created scriptures. Instead, Mahāvihāra scholars like Buddhaghosa focused on the exegesis of the Pali scriptures and on the Abhidhamma. These Theravāda sub-sects often came into conflict with each other over royal patronage. The reign of Parākramabāhu I (1153–1186) saw an extensive reform of the Sri Lankan sangha after years of warfare on the island. Parākramabāhu created a single unified sangha which came to be dominated by the Mahāvihāra sect.

Epigraphical evidence has established that Theravāda Buddhism became a dominant religion in the Southeast Asian kingdoms of Sri Ksetra and Dvaravati from about the 5th century CE onwards. The oldest surviving Buddhist texts in the Pāli language are gold plates found at Sri Ksetra dated circa 5th to 6th century. Before the Theravāda tradition became the dominant religion in Southeast Asia, Mahāyāna, Vajrayana and Hinduism were also prominent.

Starting at around the 11th century, Sinhalese Theravāda monks and Southeast Asian elites led a widespread conversion of most of mainland Southeast Asia to the Theravādin Mahavihara school. The patronage of monarchs such as the Burmese king

Anawrahta

(Pali: Aniruddha, 1044–1077) and the Thai king Ram Khamhaeng (floruit. late 13th century) was instrumental in the rise of Theravāda Buddhism as the predominant religion of Burma and Thailand.Yoneo Ishii (1986). ''Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History'', p. 60. University of Hawaii Press.

Burmese and Thai kings saw themselves as Dhamma Kings and as protectors of the Theravāda faith. They promoted the building of new temples, patronized scholarship, monastic ordinations and missionary works as well as attempted to eliminate certain non-Buddhist practices like animal sacrifices.Harvey (1925), pp. 172–173. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Theravāda also became established as the state religion in Cambodia and Laos. In Cambodia, numerous Hindu and Mahayana temples, most famously

Angkor Wat

and

Angkor Thom

, were transformed into Theravādin monasteries.

Modern history

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Theravāda Buddhists came into direct contact with western ideologies, religions and modern science. The various responses to this encounter have been called "Buddhist modernism". In the British colonies of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar), Buddhist institutions lost their traditional role as the prime providers of education (a role that was often filled by Christian schools). In response to this, Buddhist organizations were founded which sought to preserve Buddhist scholarship and provide a Buddhist education. Anagarika Dhammapala, Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera,

Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera

and

Henry Steel Olcott

(one of the first American western converts to Buddhism) were some of the main figures of the Sri Lankan Buddhist revival. Two new monastic orders were formed in the 19th century, the Amarapura Nikāya and the Rāmañña Nikāya.

In Burma, an influential modernist figure was king Mindon Min (1808–1878), known for his patronage of the Fifth Buddhist council (1871) and the Tripiṭaka tablets at Kuthodaw Pagoda (still the world's largest book) with the intention of preserving the Buddha Dhamma. Burma also saw the growth of the "Vipassana movement", which focused on reviving Buddhist meditation and doctrinal learning. Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923) was one of the key figures in this movement. After independence, Myanmar held the Sixth Buddhist council (Vesak 1954 to Vesak 1956) to create a new redaction of the Pāli Canon, which was then published by the government in 40 volumes. The Vipassana movement continued to grow after independence, becoming an international movement with centers around the world. Influential meditation teachers of the post-independence era include U Narada,

Mahasi Sayadaw

, Sayadaw U Pandita, Nyanaponika Thera, Webu Sayadaw, U Ba Khin and his student S.N. Goenka.

Meanwhile, in Thailand (the only Theravāda nation to retain its independence throughout the colonial era), the religion became much more centralized,

bureaucratized

and controlled by the state after a series of reforms promoted by Thai kings of the

Chakri dynasty

. King Mongkut (r. 1851–1868) and his successor

Chulalongkorn

(1868–1910) were especially involved in centralizing sangha reforms. Under these kings, the sangha was organized into a hierarchical bureaucracy led by the Sangha Council of Elders (Pali: ''Mahāthera Samāgama''), the highest body of the Thai sangha.Yoneo Ishii (1986). ''Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History'', p. 69. University of Hawaii Press. Mongkut also led the creation of a new monastic order, the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, which kept a stricter monastic discipline than the rest of the Thai sangha (this included not using money , not storing up food and not taking milk in the evening).Patit Paban Mishra (2010). ''The History of Thailand,'' p. 77. Greenwood History of Modern Nations Series. The Dhammayuttika movement was characterized by an emphasis on the original Pali Canon and a rejection of Thai folk beliefs which were seen as irrational.Yoneo Ishii (1986). ''Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History'', p. 156. University of Hawaii Press. Under the leadership of Prince Wachirayan Warorot, a new education and examination system was introduced for Thai monks.Yoneo Ishii (1986). ''Sangha, State, and Society: Thai Buddhism in History'', p. 76. University of Hawaii Press.

The 20th century also saw the growth of "forest traditions" which focused on forest living and strict monastic discipline. The main forest movements of this era are the Sri Lankan Forest Tradition and the Thai Forest Tradition, founded by Ajahn Mun (1870–1949) and his students.

Theravāda Buddhism in Cambodia and Laos went through similar experiences in the modern era. Both had to endure french colonialism, destructive civil wars and oppressive communist governments. Under French Rule, French indologists of the École française d'Extrême-Orient became involved in the reform of Buddhism, setting up institutions for the training of Cambodian and Lao monks, such as the Ecole de Pali which was founded in Phnom Penh in 1914''.'' While the Khmer Rouge effectively destroyed Cambodia's Buddhist institutions, after the end of the communist regime the Cambodian Sangha was re-established by monks who had returned from exile.Harris, Ian (August 2001), ''"Sangha Groupings in Cambodia",'' Buddhist Studies Review, UK Association for Buddhist Studies, 18 (I): 73–106. In contrast, communist rule in Laos was less destructive since the Pathet Lao sought to make use of the sangha for political ends by imposing direct state control. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the official attitudes towards Buddhism began to liberalise in Laos and there was a resurgence of traditional Buddhist activity such as merit making and doctrinal study.

The modern era also saw the spread of Theravāda Buddhism around the world and the revival of the religion in places where it remains a minority faith. Some of the major events of the spread of modern Theravāda include:

*The 20th century Nepalese Theravāda movement which introduced Theravāda Buddhism to

Nepal

and was led by prominent figures such as Dharmaditya Dharmacharya, Mahapragya, Pragyananda and Dhammalok Mahasthavir.
*The establishment of some of the first Theravāda Viharas in the Western world, such as the London Buddhist Vihara (1926), Das Buddhistische Haus in Berlin (1957) and the Washington Buddhist Vihara in Washington, DC (1965).
*The founding of the Bengal Buddhist Association (1892) and the Dharmankur Vihar (1900) in Calcutta by the Bengali monk Kripasaran Mahasthavir, which were key events in the Bengali Theravāda revival.
*The founding of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1891 by

Anagarika Dharmapala

which focused on the conservation and restoration of important Indian Buddhist sites, such as

Bodh Gaya

and

Sarnath

.Jerryson, Michael K. (ed.) ''The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism'', p. 41.
*The introduction of Theravāda to other Southeast Asian nations like Singapore,

Indonesia

and

Malaysia

. Especially with Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda missionary efforts among English-speaking Chinese communities.
*The return of Western Theravādin monks trained in the Thai Forest Tradition to western countries and the subsequent founding of monasteries led by western monastics, such as Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, Metta Forest Monastery, Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, Birken Forest Buddhist Monastery, Bodhinyana Monastery and Santacittarama.
*The spread of the Vipassana movement around the world by the efforts of people like S.N. Goenka, Anagarika Munindra, Joseph Goldstein,

Jack Kornfield

, Sharon Salzberg, Dipa Ma, and Ruth Denison.
*The Vietnamese Theravāda movement, led by figures such as Ven. Hộ-Tông (Vansarakkhita).

Texts

Pāli Tipiṭaka

According to Kate Crosby, for Theravāda, the Pāli Tipiṭaka, also known as the Pāli Canon is "the highest authority on what constitutes the Dhamma (the truth or teaching of the Buddha) and the organization of the Sangha (the community of monks and nuns)."

The language of the Tipiṭaka, Pāli, is a middle-Indic language which is the main religious and scholarly language in Theravāda. This language may have evolved out of various Indian dialects, and is related to, but not the same as, the ancient language of

Magadha

.

An early form of the Tipiṭaka may have been transmitted to

Sri Lanka

during the reign of

Ashoka

, which saw a period of Buddhist missionary activity. After being orally transmitted (as was the custom for religious texts in those days) for some centuries, the texts were finally committed to writing in the 1st century BCE. Theravāda is one of the first Buddhist schools to commit its Tipiṭaka to writing. The recension of the Tipiṭaka which survives today is that of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara sect.

The oldest manuscripts of the Tipiṭaka from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia date to the 15th Century, and they are incomplete.Skilling, Peter. "Reflections on the Pali Literature of Siam". From Birch Bark to Digital Data: Recent Advances in Buddhist Manuscript Research: Papers Presented at the Conference Indic Buddhist Manuscripts: The State of the Field. Stanford, 15–19 June 2009, edited by Paul Harrison and Jens-Uwe Hartmann, 1st ed., Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Wien, 2014, pp. 347–366. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1vw0q4q.25. Accessed 7 May 2020. Complete manuscripts of the four Nikayas are only available from the 17th Century onwards.Anālayo. "The Historical Value of the Pāli Discourses". Indo-Iranian Journal, vol. 55, no. 3, 2012, pp. 223–253. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24665100. Accessed 7 May 2020. However, fragments of the Tipiṭaka have been found in inscriptions from Southeast Asia, the earliest of which have been dated to the 3rd or 4th century.Wynne, Alexander. ''Did the Buddha exist?'' JOCBS. 2019(16): 98–148. According to Alexander Wynne, "they agree almost exactly with extant Pāli manuscripts. This means that the Pāli Tipiṭaka has been transmitted with a high degree of accuracy for well over 1,500 years."

There are numerous editions of the Tipiṭaka, some of the major modern editions include the Pali Text Society edition (published in roman script), the Burmese Sixth Council edition (in

Burmese script

, 1954–56) and the Thai Tipiṭaka edited and published in Thai script after the council held during the reign of

Rama VII

(1925–35). There is also a

Khmer

edition, published in

Phnom Penh

(1931–69).

The Pāli Tipitaka consists of three parts: the Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka. Of these, the Abhidhamma Pitaka is believed to be a later addition to the collection, its composition dating from around the 3rd century BCE onwards. The Pāli Abhidhamma was not recognized outside the Theravāda school. There are also some texts which were late additions that are included in the fifth Nikaya, the '' Khuddaka Nikāya'' ('Minor Collection'), such as the '' Paṭisambhidāmagga'' (possibly c. 3rd to 1st century BCE) and the '' Buddhavaṃsa'' (c. 1st and 2nd century BCE).

The main parts of the Sutta Pitaka and some portions of the

Vinaya

shows considerable overlap in content to the Agamas, the parallel collections used by non-Theravāda schools in India which are preserved in Chinese and partially in

Sanskrit

, Prakrit, and Tibetan, as well as the various non-Theravāda Vinayas. On this basis, these Early Buddhist texts (i.e. the Nikayas and parts of the Vinaya) are generally believed to be some of the oldest and most authoritative sources on the doctrines of pre-sectarian Buddhism by modern scholars.

Much of the material in the earlier portions is not specifically "Theravādan", but the collection of teachings that this school's adherents preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey, while the Theravādans may have added texts to their Tipiṭaka (such as the Abhidhamma texts and so on), they generally did not tamper with the earlier material.

The historically later parts of the canon, mainly the Abhidhamma and some parts of the Vinaya, contain some distinctive elements and teachings which are unique to the Theravāda school and often differ with the Abhidharmas or Vinayas of other early Buddhist schools. For example, while the Theravāda Vinaya contains a total of 227 monastic rules for bhikkhus, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (used in East Asian Buddhism) has a total of 253 rules for bhikkhus (though the overall structure is the same). These differences arose from the systematization and historical development of doctrines and monasticism in the centuries after the death of the Buddha.

The Abhidhamma-pitaka contains "a restatement of the doctrine of the Buddha in strictly formalized language." Its texts present a new method, the Abhidhamma method, which attempts to build a single consistent philosophical system (in contrast with the suttas, which present numerous teachings given by the Buddha to particular individuals according to their need). Because the Abhidhamma focuses on analyzing the internal lived experience of beings and the intentional structure of consciousness, it has often been compared to a kind of phenomenological

psychology

by numerous modern scholars such as Nyanaponika, Bhikkhu Bodhi and Alexander Piatigorsky.

The Theravāda school has traditionally held the doctrinal position that the canonical Abhidhamma Pitaka was actually taught by the Buddha himself. Modern scholarship in contrast, has generally held that the Abhidhamma texts date from the 3rd century BCE onwards. However some scholars, such as Frauwallner, also hold that the early Abhidhamma texts developed out of exegetical and catechetical work which made use of doctrinal lists which can be seen in the suttas, called ''matikas.''

Non-canonical literature

There are numerous Theravāda works which are important for the tradition even though they are not part of the Tipiṭaka. Perhaps the most important texts apart from the Tipiṭaka are the works of the influential scholar Buddhaghosa (4th–5th century CE), known for his Pāli commentaries (which were based on older Sri Lankan commentaries of the Mahavihara tradition). He is also the author of a very important compendium of Theravāda doctrine, the ''Visuddhimagga''.Crosby, 2013, p. 86. Other figures like Dhammapala and Buddhadatta also wrote Theravāda commentaries and other works in Pali during the time of Buddhaghosa. While these texts do not have the same scriptural authority in Theravāda as the Tipiṭaka, they remain influential works for the exegesis of the Tipiṭaka.

An important genre of Theravādin literature is shorter handbooks and summaries, which serve as introductions and study guides for the larger commentaries. Two of the more influential summaries are Sariputta Thera's ''Pālimuttakavinayavinicchayasaṅgaha,'' a summary of Buddhaghosa's Vinaya commentary and Anuruddha's '' Abhidhammaṭṭhasaṅgaha'' (a "Manual of Abhidhamma").Crosby, 2013, 86.

Throughout the history of Theravāda, Theravāda monks also produced other works of Pāli literature such as historical chronicles (like the '' Dipavamsa'' and the '' Mahavamsa''), hagiographies, poetry, Pāli grammars, and " sub-commentaries" (that is, commentaries on the commantries).

While Pāli texts are symbolically and ritually important for many Theravādins, most people are likely to access Buddhist teachings though vernacular literature, oral teachings, sermons, art and performance as well as films and Internet media. According to Kate Crosby, "there is a far greater volume of Theravāda literature in vernacular languages than in Pāli."

An important genre of Theravādin literature, in both Pāli and vernacular languages are the Jataka tales, stories of the Buddha's past lives. They are very popular among all classes and are rendered in a wide variety of media formats, from cartoons to high literature. The Vessantara Jātaka is one of the most popular of these.

Most Theravāda Buddhists generally consider Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures to be apocryphal, meaning that they are not authentic words of the Buddha.

Doctrine

Core teachings

The core of Theravāda Buddhist doctrine is contained in the Pāli Canon, the only complete collection of Early Buddhist Texts surviving in a classical Indic language

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