Theravada: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikāya schools that formed early Buddhism. These developed in India during the century subsequent to the passing away of the Buddha. The name of the school implies the meaning of "Teachings of the Elders" which means that this was the most conservative school of Buddhism, a school that has attempted to conserve the original teachings of the Buddha. It is the longest surviving of the original twenty schools, and for many centuries Theravada has been the predominant religion of continental Southeast Asia (parts of south west China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand) and Sri Lanka. Today Theravada Buddhists number over 100 million worldwide, and in recent decades Theravada has begun to take root in the West.

During the reign of Emperor Asoka in India, the third Council was held in Pataliputta (308 BC). 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 Theravada Pali Canon was born. These books were sent to different parts of India and Sri Lanka and was still in use today by Theravadins.

Theravada Buddhists believed in Tripitaka, what the Buddha taught and recorded from the first, the Second and the third Buddhist Council held 3 months, 100 years and 236 years after the Buddha passed a way respectively.

Theravadins believe mainly in Gautama Buddha and the Bodhisattava Maiteya, but not in the numerous transhistorical Buddhas and Bodhisattavas of the Mahayana tradition. This is because Theravada stresses the historical Buddha and His early teachings, applying the term Bodhisatva mainly to the previous incarnations of Gautama Buddha.

Theravada promote the concept of Vibhajyavada (Pali), literaly "Teaching of Analysis" which use critical method of investigation as opposed to blind faith. Where the answer has to be found out, by the aspirant, after being convinced by valid thought and experience, in order to reach the first glimpse of the goal.

Theravadins goal being 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 there is no more returning to the worldly life.

Theravada Buddhism focuses on Meditation and understanding. By meditating, a practitioner can gain valuable insight on himself/herself as well as understanding the concepts of Dhamma better. Meditation techniques include:

• Anapana
• Vipassana
• Metta

Meditation in Theravada was separated into 4 levels:

1. First Jhana
2. Second Jhana
3. Third Jhana
4. Fourth Jhana

Thru practise, Theravadins (both monks & laity) can attain 4 degrees of spiritual attainments:

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. 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. After they die they will be born in the deities worlds, there to attain Nibbana.
4. Arahant - Those who have 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.

Buddha Purnima is the highest religious festival in Theravada.

Many Buddhisms, One Dhamma-vinaya

The Buddha called the religion he founded Dhamma-vinaya, "the doctrine and discipline" (Pali Dhamma or Sanskrit Dharma for short). To provide a social structure supportive of the practice of Dhamma, and to preserve these teachings for posterity, the Buddha established the order of bhikkhus (monks) and bhikkhunis (nuns) — the Sangha — who continue to this day to pass his teachings on to subsequent generations of laypeople and monastics, alike. But within two centuries after the Buddha's passing, as the Dhamma spread across much of India, several different interpretations of some of the Buddha's original teachings arose, leading to schisms within the Sangha and the emergence of as many as eighteen distinct sects of Buddhism.

The language of the Theravada canonical texts is known as Pali (lit., "text"), which is based on a dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan that was probably spoken in central India during the Buddha's time. Most of the sermons (suttas) the Buddha delivered were memorized by Ven. Ananda, the Buddha's cousin and close personal attendant; those sermons at which Ananda was not present are said to have been repeated to him later on. Shortly after the Buddha's death (ca. 480 BCE), five hundred of the most senior monks — including Ananda — convened to recite and verify all the sermons they had heard during the Buddha's forty-five year teaching career. Most of these sermons therefore begin with the disclaimer, Evam me sutam — "Thus have I heard."

The teachings were passed down orally within the monastic community, in keeping with an oral tradition that long predated the Buddha. By 250 BCE the Buddha's teachings had been systematically arranged and organized into three basic divisions: the Vinaya Pitaka (the "basket of discipline"; the texts concerning the rules and customs of the Sangha), the Sutta Pitaka (the "basket of discourses"; the sermons and utterances by the Buddha and his close disciples), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (the "basket of higher [or special] doctrine"; a detailed philosophical and psychological analysis of the Dhamma). Taken together these three are known as the Tripitaka — the "three baskets". In the 3rd century BCE Sri Lankan monks began compiling a series of detailed commentaries to the Tripitaka that were finally collated and translated into Pali beginning in the fifth century CE. The Tripitaka plus the post-canonical Pali texts (commentaries, chronicles, etc.) together constitute the complete body of classical Theravada texts.

Pali was originally a spoken language with no alphabet of its own. It wasn't until about 100 BCE that the Tripitaka was first fixed in writing, by Sri Lankan scribe-monks writing the Pali phonetically in their own Sinhala alphabet. Since then the Tripitaka has been transliterated into many different scripts (Devanagari, Thai, Burmese, Roman, Cyrillic, to name a few). Although English translations of the most popular Tripitaka texts abound, many students of Theravada find that learning the Pali language — even just a little bit here and there — greatly deepens their understanding and appreciation of the Buddha's teachings.

Of course, no one can prove that the Tripitaka contains any of the actual words uttered by the historical Buddha. But practicing Buddhists have never found this problematic. Unlike the scriptures of many of the world's other great religions, the Tripitaka is not meant to be taken as gospel, containing unassailable statements of divine truth, revealed by a prophet, to be accepted purely on faith. Instead, its teachings are meant to be assessed firsthand, to be put into practice in one's life so that one can find out for oneself if they do, in fact, yield the promised results. It is the truth towards which the words in the Tripitaka point that ultimately matters, not the words themselves. Although scholars will undoubtedly continue to speculate about the authorship of passages from the Tripitaka for years to come (and thus miss the point of these teachings entirely), the Tripitaka will quietly continue to serve — as it has for centuries — as an indispensable guide for millions of followers in their quest for Awakening.