Hinayana
Hinayana (Sanskrit हीनयान Hinayana, " vehicle reducer " ) is a considered to be pejorative designation of Mahayana Buddhism for all non- Mahayana belonging currents of Buddhism. It refers mainly to the Theravada.
Origin and Meaning
The name Hinayana came with the emergence of the Mahayana in use by the latter laid claim to the objective "bigger" ( maha ) or to be more comprehensive than the supporters of the old wisdom school, the one called therefore as " small" ( hina ). In addition to the size discrimination by the objective can be understood in the context of the naming of the first schism of Buddhism movement. This took place after the Second Buddhist Council, which took place some years after the death of Buddha. Here the hitherto orally transmitted teachings of the Buddha should be verschriftlicht by the participating monks and brought to a consensus. The consensus failed and the council was divided into two camps. From the traditionalist school Theravada branch of a large group split off, in which the opinion was thought that the strict precepts of Theravada should be relaxed. The process of separation monks were doing the majority and called themselves Mahasanghikas. The two vehicles of Buddhism emerged, the schism was complete. The smaller vehicle ( Hinayana ) was characterized by -traditional disciplinary rigor and was therefore considered to be very exclusive - it was only a few people possible, this rigor to subject to find redemption. That said for a relaxation of the rules onset and greater vehicle was called Mahayana. Before the emergence of the Mahayana existed due to lack of necessity no collective terms for different schools. The resulting after the schism term Hinayana is used despite the pejorative character as before.
Theravada, the largest and only surviving line of the Hinayana in Sri Lanka and the continental Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and partly also in Vietnam) used and in these countries the predominant direction of Buddhism.
A particularly represented by Theravada Buddhists opinion is the following: since only the Theravada survived from the earlier schools of Hinayana, it made sense to speak only from the Theravada and Mahayana as the two major lines of Buddhism. In historical context, however, can be misleading because other schools of Hinayana existed. From the no longer practiced schools of Hinayana are the following key: The Mahasanghika, the Pudgalavada, the Sarvastivada and Sautrantika.
In Mahayana, the term is Śrāvakayāna ( vehicle of hearers ) is used instead of Hinayana.
Another, existing to this day (albeit heavily modified and scaled down) school of Hinayana in the distribution area of the Mahayana ( East Asia ) is the Vinaya school. It occurred to some importance in the field of ordination and the sharing of traditional monastic rules. In China it spread under the name Lu - zong, in Japanese it is called Ritsu. At various times (eg Nara Period, Song Dynasty ) was expected by the monks that they received the tradition passed from this school.
The term " Hinayana " in Tibetan Buddhism
In the Tibetan tradition, the terms Hinayana and Mahayana are only called in the sense of personal motivation for Erleuchtungsbemühung; they describe the motivation of the complementary practitioner to attain enlightenment for themselves personally or for the benefit of all beings. Desirable applies in Tibetan Buddhism the attitude of the Mahayana. Thus Hinayana remains a theoretical construct, in which most practitioners are stuck practically speaking, because they are not purely altruistic, as they are aware of this, however, and strive for the perfection of bodhichitta, so actually take a Mahayanist attitude.
In ancient India, it seems not to have given the distinction. After the few traditions of Chinese and Tibetan sources ( the Islamic and Hindu suppression of Buddhism in India has left himself nothing, Buddhism was completely wiped out there ) is some uncertainty as to take an assignment.
According to Tibetan sources, the Mahasanghika ( Greater Sangha ') and the Sthaviravadin have a very early Council ( ' Old Way ' ) isolated over the question of whether it is permissible within the ' Great Sangha ' differences in the spiritual maturity of various arhats to accept or (as yet) (hence the name). A total of 18 schools in the wake of which one is now not always sure which of these two directions they belonged arisen; there is also evidence that this difference among Buddhists seemed of little importance. In any case, ultimately due to the extinction of the Western and Indian Buddhism only a subset of the Sthaviravadin ( = Theravadin ) survived and draw a sense of Mahasanghikas, namely the Prasanghika -Madhyamaka which for all northern traditions (China and Tibet) responsible.