Theravada

Category: Traditions and Lineages

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• Chinese :  南传 nanchuan
• Pali :  थेरवाद theravâda
• Sanskrit :  स्थविरवाद sthaviravâda

Theravada has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand). 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 (Inferior 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.

History

During the reign of Emperor Ashoka 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 Ven. Mahinda to Sri Lanka in 246 BCE and was committed to writing in 110 BCE. It is still in use today by Theravadins.

Philosophy

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 Theravadins 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.

Practice

Lay and Monastic Life

Traditionally, Theravada Buddhism has observed a distinction between the practices suitable for a lay person and the practices undertaken by ordained monks (and, in ancient times, nuns). While the possibility of significant attainment by laymen is not entirely disregarded by the Theravada, it occupies a position of significantly less prominence than in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions. This distinction - as well as the distinction between those practices advocated by the Pali Canon, and the folk religious elements embraced by many monks - have motivated some scholars to consider Theravada Buddhism to be composed of multiple separate traditions, overlapping though still distinct. Most prominently, the anthropologist Melford Spiro in his work Buddhism and Society separated Burmese Theravada into three groups: apotropaic Buddhism (concerned with providing protection from evil spirits), kammatic Buddhism (concerned with making merit for a future birth), and Nibbanic Buddhism (concerned with attaining the liberation of nibbana, as described in the Tipitaka). These categories are not accepted by all scholars, and are usually considered non-exclusive by those who employ them.

The role of lay people has traditionally been primarily occupied with activities that are commonly termed 'merit making' (falling under Spiro's category of kammatic Buddhism). Merit making activities include offering food and other basic necessities to monks, making donations to temples and monasteries, burning incense or lighting candles before images of the Buddha, and chanting protective or merit-making verses from the Pali Canon. Some lay practitioners have always chosen to take a more active role in religious affairs, while still maintaining their lay status. Dedicated lay men and women sometimes act as trustees or custodians for their temples, taking part in the financial planning and management of the temple. Others may volunteer significant time in tending to the mundane needs of local monks (by cooking, cleaning, maintaining temple facilities, etc.). Lay activities have traditionally not extended to study of the Pali scriptures, nor the practice of meditation, though in the 20th Century these areas have become more accessible to the lay community, especially in Thailand. A number of senior monastics in the Thai Forest Tradition, including Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, Ajahn Maha Boowa Nyanasampanno, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro, have begun teaching meditation retreats outside of the monastery for lay disciples.

Nirvana, the highest goal, is attained through study and meditation. This goal (and its associated techniques) have traditionally been seen as the domain of the fully ordained monastic. Monastic roles in the Theravada can be broadly described as being split between the role of the (often urban) scholar monk and the (often rural) meditation monk. Both types of monks serve their communities as religious teachers and officiants by presiding over religious ceremonies and providing instruction in basic Buddhist morality and teachings.

Scholar monks undertake the path of studying and preserving the Pali literature of the Theravada. They may devote little time to the practice of meditation, but may attain great respect and renown by becoming masters of a particular section of the Pali Canon or its commentaries. Masters of the Abhidharma, called Abhidammika, are particularly respected in the scholastic tradition.

Meditation monks, often called forest monks because of their association with certain wilderness-dwelling traditions, are considered to be specialists in meditation. While some forest monks may undertake significant study of the Pali Canon, in general meditation monks are expected to learn primarily from their meditation experiences and personal teachers, and may not know more of the Tipitaka than is necessary to participate in liturgical life and to provide a foundation for fundamental Buddhist teachings. More so than the scholastic tradition, the meditation tradition is associated with the attainment of certain supernatural powers described in both Pali sources and folk tradition.

Levels of Attainment

Through practice, Theravadins practitioner can attain four degrees of spiritual attainment:

1. Stream-Enterers - Those who have destroyed the three fetters (self-belief, doubt, and faith in the efficacy of rituals and observances), will be safe from falling into the states of misery (they will not be born as an animal, peta (hungry ghost), or hell being). At most they will have to be reborn only seven more times before attaining Nibbana.
2. Once-Returners - Those who have destroyed the three fetters (self-belief, doubt, and faith in the efficacy of rituals and observances), and the lessening of lust, hatred, and delusion. They will attain Nibbana after being born once more in the world.
3. Non-Returners - Those who have destroyed the five lower fetters (that bind beings to the world of the senses). They will never again return to the human world and after they die will be born in the heavenly worlds, there to attain Nibbana.
4. Arahant - Those who have reached Enlightenment, awakened to the Nibbana and have reached the quality of deathlessness, free from all the fermentations of defilement; whose ignorance, craving, attachments, and karma have ended.

Festivals

Some of the Theravada festivals includes

• Vesak, celebrations of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and mahaparinirvana.
• Uposatha
• Vassa (Rain Retreat)

Temporary Ordination

In most Theravada countries, it is a common practice for young men to ordain as monks for a fixed period of time. In Thailand and Myanmar, young men typically ordain for the 3 month Rain Retreat (vassa), though shorter or longer periods of ordination are not rare. Traditionally, temporary ordination was even more flexible among Laotians. Once they had undergone their initial ordination as young men, Laotian men were permitted to temporarily ordain again at any time, though married men were expected to seek their wife's permission. Throughout Southeast Asia, there is little stigma attached to leaving the monastic life. Monks regularly leave the robes after acquiring an education, or when compelled by family obligations or ill-health.

Ordaining as a monk, even for a short period, is seen as having many virtues. In many Southeast Asian cultures, it is seen as a means for a young man to 'repay' his parents for their work and effort in raising him, because the merit from his ordination accrues to them as well. Thai men who have ordained as a monk may be seen as more fit husbands by Thai women, who refer to men who have served as monks with a colloquial term meaning 'cooked' to indicate that they are more mature and ready for marriage. Particularly in rural areas, temporary ordination of boys and young men traditionally gave peasant boys an opportunity to gain an education in temple schools without committing to a permanent monastic life.

In Sri Lanka, temporary ordination is not practiced, and a monk leaving the order is frowned upon. The continuing influence of the caste system in Sri Lanka may play a role in the taboo against temporary ordination and leaving the monkhood. Though Sri Lankan monastic nikayas are often organized along caste lines, men who ordain as monks temporarily pass outside of the conventional caste system, and as such during their time as monks may act (or be treated) in a way that would not be in line with the expected duties and privileges of their caste.

Buddhist orders within Theravada

Different orders, which are referred to as nikayas, has not resulted in the development of separate doctrines. The Supreme Patriarch of the Sangha, the highest ranking monk in any given country, may come from any of these Nikayas.

• Sri Lanka
  • Siam Nikaya
  • Amarapura Nikaya
  • Ramanna Nikaya
• Thailand
  • Dhammayut Nikaya (Thai: Thammayut)
  • Maha Nikaya (Thai: Mahanikai)
• Myanmar
  • Thudhamma Nikaya
  • Shwekyin Nikaya