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Hīnayāna
Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' paths. This term appeared around the first or second century. Hīnayāna was often contrasted with ''Mahāyāna'', which means the "great vehicle". In 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists declared that the term Hīnayāna should not be used when referring to any form of Buddhism existing today. In the past, the term was widely used by Western scholars to cover "the earliest system of Buddhist doctrine", as the ''Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary'' put it. Modern Buddhist scholarship has deprecated the pejorative term, and uses instead the term '' Nikaya Buddhism'' to refer to early Buddhist schools. ''Hinayana'' has also been used as a synonym for Theravada, which is the main tradition of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast ...
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Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism (the other being ''Theravāda'' and Vajrayana).Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and ''Prajñāpāramitā''. '' Vajrayāna'' or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha ('' samyaksaṃbuddha'') for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thus ...
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Nikaya Buddhism
The term Nikāya Buddhism was coined by Masatoshi Nagatomi as a non-derogatory substitute for Hinayana, meaning the early Buddhist schools. Examples of these groups are pre-sectarian Buddhism and the early Buddhist schools. Some scholars exclude pre-sectarian Buddhism when using the term. The term Theravada refers to Buddhist practices based on these early teachings, as preserved in the Pāli Canon. Etymology ''Nikāya'' is a Pali word meaning "group" or "assemblage", referring to the collection of early Buddhist schools or non-Mahayana schools. In Indian Buddhism Overview Early Buddhism in India is generally divided into various monastic fraternities, or nikāyas. Conventionally numbering eighteen, the actual count varied over time. The doctrinal orientation of each school differed somewhat, as did the number of piṭakas in their canon. An example of this is the Dharmaguptaka, which included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka. In the Mahāsāṃghika br ...
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Yana (Buddhism)
Yāna (Sanskrit: यान and Pāli: "vehicle") refers to a mode or method of spiritual practice in Buddhism. It is claimed they were all taught by the Gautama Buddha in response to the various capacities of individuals. On an outwardly conventional level, the teachings and practices may appear contradictory, but ultimately they all have the same goal. Nomenclature, etymology and orthography In form, yāna is a neuter noun derived from the Sanskrit root yā- meaning to "go to" or "move" or "reach". The suffix employed to form this noun may have different values: while primarily yāna is understood to refer to the means (kara.na) through which one goes to/ reaches a location, it may technically also refer to the action itself (bhāva). Yāna is therefore primarily a "vehicle", in most contexts relevant to the Buddhist doctrine of three yānas. "Vehicle" is often used as a preferred translation as the word that provides the least in the way of presuppositions about the mode of ...
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Early Buddhist Schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separation of groups of monks. The original saṅgha split into the first early schools (generally believed to be the Sthavira nikāya and the Mahāsāṃghika) during or after the reign of Aśoka. Later, these first early schools were further divided into schools such as the Sarvāstivādins, the Dharmaguptakas, and the Vibhajyavāda, and ended up numbering 18 or 20 schools according to traditional accounts. The textual material shared by the early schools is often termed the Early Buddhist Texts and these are an important source for understanding their doctrinal similarities and differences. Formation and development The first council According to the scriptures ('' Cullavagga'' XI.1 ff), three months after the pari ...
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Dharmaguptaka
The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a prominent role in early Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism, and their Prātimokṣa (monastic rules for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs) are still in effect in East Asian countries to this day, including China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan as well as the Philippines. They are one of three surviving Vinaya lineages, along with that of the Theravāda and the Mūlasarvāstivāda. Etymology ''Guptaka'' means "preserver" and ''dharma'' "law, justice, morality", and, most likely, the set of laws of Northern Buddhism. Doctrinal development Overview The Dharmaguptakas regarded the path of a śrāvaka ('' śrāvakayāna'') and the path of a bodhisattva (''bodhisattvayāna'') to be separate. A translation and commentary on the ''Samayabhedoparacan ...
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Vajrayana
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring to Buddhist traditions associated with Tantra and "Secret Mantra", which developed in the medieval Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, other Himalayan states, East Asia, and Mongolia. Vajrayāna practices are connected to specific lineages in Buddhism, through the teachings of lineage holders. Others might generally refer to texts as the Buddhist Tantras. It includes practices that make use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. Traditional Vajrayāna sources say that the tantras and the lineage of Vajrayāna were taught by Śākyamuni Buddha and other figures such as the bodhisattva Vajrapani and Padmasambhava. Contemporary historians of Buddhist studies meanwhile argue that ...
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Śrāvakayāna
Śrāvakayāna ( sa, श्रावकयान; pi, सावकयान; ) is one of the three '' yānas'' known to Indian Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of listeners .e. disciples. Historically it was the most common term used by Mahāyāna Buddhist texts to describe one hypothetical path to enlightenment. Śrāvakayāna is the path that meets the goals of an Arhat—an individual who achieves liberation as a result of listening to the teachings (or following a lineage) of a Samyaksaṃbuddha. A Buddha who achieved enlightenment through ''Śrāvakayāna'' is called a ''Śrāvakabuddha'', as distinguished from a Samyaksaṃbuddha or Pratyekabuddha. Use of the term Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahāyāna ... very occasionally referred contemptuously to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayāna, the Inferior Way," "the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes tha ...
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Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ...
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Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
The Rangjung Yeshe Wiki is a Wiki community established in 2005 focused on building a Tibetan-English Dictionary, glossaries of Buddhist terminology, biographies of Buddhist teachers, and articles on important Tibetan Buddhist literary works and collections. The site aims to develop resources useful for the "community of lotsawas" involved in translating Buddhist texts from Classical Tibetan to English and other European Languages. The original content of the Wiki was based on a digital Tibetan-English dictionary compiled by the translator Erik Pema Kunsang Erik Pema Kunsang (born Erik Hein Schmidt) is a Danish translator and was, along with Marcia Binder Schmidt, director of Rangjung Yeshe Translations and Publications in Kathmandu. He has translated over fifty volumes of Tibetan texts and oral ... in the early 1970s. The Rangjung Yeshe Wiki currently has over 23,720 articles, 1,060 uploaded files, and 825 registered users. The site is hosted and supported by the Tsadra Found ...
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Thrangu Rinpoche
Thrangu Rinpoche ( ) was born in 1933 in Kham, Tibet. He is deemed to be a prominent tulku (reincarnate lama) in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, the ninth reincarnation in his particular line. His full name and title is the ''Very Venerable Ninth Khenchen Thrangu Tulku, Karma Lodrö Lungrik Maway Senge''. The academic title ''Khenchen'' denotes great scholarly accomplishment (English-language analogues include the titles Distinguished Professor and Academic Fellow), and the term ''Rinpoche'' ("Precious" or "Precious One") is a Tibetan devotional title which may be accorded to respected teachers and exemplars. Biography Early life and exile Thrangu Rinpoche was installed at Thrangu Monastery in Kham (eastern Tibet) after his identification by the Sixteenth Karmapa and the previous Tai Situpa at age five. He is one of the principal lamas there, although Traleg Rinpoche is the supreme abbot of the complex. He fled to India following the Chinese invasion in 1959. At the ...
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Asanga
Asaṅga (, ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') (fl. 4th century C.E.) was "one of the most important spiritual figures" of Mahayana Buddhism and the "founder of the Yogachara school".Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment: A Complete Translation of the Bodhisattvabhumi,'' Shambhala Publications, 2016, Translator's introduction.Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xiii. He was born in ''Puruṣapura'', modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the major classical Indian Sanskrit exponents of Mahayana Abhidharma, ''Vijñanavada'' (awareness only; also called ''Vijñaptivāda'', the doctrine of ideas or percepts, and ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'', the doctrine of 'mere representation)) thought and Mahayana teachings on the bodhisattva path. Biography According to later hagiogr ...
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Paul Williams (philosopher)
Paul Williams (born 1950) is Emeritus Professor of Indian and Tibetan Philosophy at the University of Bristol, England. Until his retirement in 2011 he was also director for the University's Centre for Buddhist Studies, and is a former president of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies. Biography Williams studied at the University of Sussex's School of African studies, African & Asian Studies where he graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts, BA in 1972. He then went on to study Buddhist Philosophy at Wadham College, University of Oxford, where he was awarded his DPhil in 1978. His main research interests are Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy, Mahayana Buddhism, and Medieval philosophical and mystical thought. Williams was a Buddhist himself for many years but has since converted to Roman Catholicism, an experience he wrote about in his book ''The Unexpected Way''Paul J. Griffiths"On honeymoon" ''Commonweal (magazine), Commonweal'', 17 January 2003. and in an article, "On co ...
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