24 Facts About Theravada

In contrast to Mahayana and Vajrayana, Theravada tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine and monastic discipline.

Theravada school descends from the Vibhajjavada, a division within the Sthavira nikaya, one of the two major orders that arose after the first schism in the Indian Buddhist community.

Epigraphical evidence has established that Theravada Buddhism became a dominant religion in the Southeast Asian kingdoms of Sri Ksetra and Dvaravati from about the 5th century CE onwards.

Theravada is one of the first Buddhist schools to commit its Tipitaka to writing.

For example, while the Theravada Vinaya contains a total of 227 monastic rules for bhikkhus, the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya has a total of 253 rules for bhikkhus.

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Theravada school has traditionally held the doctrinal position that the canonical Abhidhamma Pitaka was actually taught by the Buddha himself.

Theravada is the author of a very important compendium of Theravada doctrine, the Visuddhimagga.

Theravada scholastics developed a systematic exposition of the Buddhist doctrine called the Abhidhamma.

Theravada traditionally promotes itself as the Vibhajjavada "teaching of analysis" and as the heirs to the Buddha's analytical method.

Ronkin does note however that later Theravada sub-commentaries do show a doctrinal shift towards ontological realism from the earlier epistemic and practical concerns.

Theravada Abhidhamma holds that there is a total of 82 possible types of dhammas, 81 of these are conditioned, while one is unconditioned, which is nibbana.

Theravada canon depicts Gautama Buddha as being the most recent Buddha in a line of previous Buddhas stretching back for aeons.

Traditionally, the Theravada school rejects the idea that there can be numerous Buddhas active in the world at the same time.

However, unlike in Mahayana Buddhism, the Theravada holds that the Buddha path is not for everyone and that beings on the Buddha path are quite rare.

Traditionally, the Theravada maintains the following key doctrinal positions, though not all Theravadins agree with the traditional point of view:.

Theravada orthodoxy takes the seven stages of purification as outlined in the Visuddhimagga as the basic outline of the path to be followed.

Strains of older, traditional Theravada meditation known as "boran kammatthana" still exist, but this tradition has mostly been eclipsed by the Buddhist modernist meditation movements.

Traditionally, Theravada Buddhism has observed a distinction between the practices suitable for a lay person and the practices undertaken by ordained monks.

Some Western scholars have erroneously tried to claim that Mahayana is primarily a religion for laymen and Theravada is a primarily monastic religion.

Theravada stresses that all three are firmly rooted in the Pali Canon.

Theravada sources dating back to medieval Sri Lanka such as the Mahavamsa show that monastic roles in the tradition were often seen as being in a polarity between urban monks on one end and rural forest monks on the other.

Today there are forest based traditions in most Theravada countries, including the Sri Lankan Forest Tradition, the Thai Forest Tradition as well as lesser known forest based traditions in Burma and Laos, such as the Burmese forest based monasteries of the Pa Auk Sayadaw.

In most Theravada countries, it is a common practice for young men to ordain as monks for a fixed period of time.

Theravada Buddhism is practiced in the following countries and by people worldwide:.