• Hey Webmasters! New Photo Album Service Launched - Check it out!

Theravada (Pali; Sanskrit: Sthaviravada) is one of the eighteen (or twenty) Nikaya schools that formed early in the history of Buddhism. These developed in India during the century subsequent to the death of the Buddha. The name of the school means "Teachings of the Elders" which implies that this was the most conservative school of Buddhism, a school that has attempted to conserve the original teachings of the Buddha. 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.Theravada is the longest surviving of the twenty Vehicle") in opposition to the Mahayana ("Greater Vehicle"), but this term is now widely seen as either inaccurate or derogatory.Theravada is sometimes referred to as Southern Buddhism. The oldest surviving use of the term Theravada in writing appears in the 7th century CE in that school's own manuscripts.In that document, 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. 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 Asoka 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 Venerable Mahindaaspirant, after being convinced by valid thought and experience, in order to reach the first glimpse of the goal.he 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 respect and worship 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.

Young Burmese monkTraditionally, 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 trad, 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 ated 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 monasteriesive 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, thoastic. 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 Abir 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 litergical 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.
gh practice, Theravadins practitioner can attain four degrees of spiritual attainment:

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, hungry ghost, or hell being). At most they will have to be reborn only seven more times before attaining Nibbana. 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.
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. 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 and customsTheravada Religious festivals:
Wat Phra Buddha Baat, a Theravada Buddhist temple in Thailand.[edit]Temporary OrdinationIn most Theravada countries, it is common practice for young men to ordain as monks for a fixed period of time. In Thailand and Myerit 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 ga who ordain as monks temporarily pass outside of the conventional caste system, and as such during tation, the 'higher' or full ordination as a Theravada *bhikkhu* is often reserved for those who intend to take the robes permanently. As such, the temporarily ordained may be subject to fewer precepts and disciplinary rules than full monks.

index page1 page2 page3 page4 San Francisco tour Villa Lighting