Talk:Hinayana/Sandbox

Hīnayāna (Chinese: 小乘 Xiǎoshèng; Japanese: Shōjō; Vietnamese: Tiểu thừa; rendered as hinayana in English) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning "the inferior vehicle", where "vehicle" (yāna) refers to "a means of going to awakening". Hīnayāna was coined by Mahāyāna Buddhists as a disparaging term  for doctrines, practices, and texts of other Buddhists who reject the provenance of the Mahayana sutras, and which (according to Mahayana canon and commentary) are concerned only with an individual's path to the cessastion of suffering (Nirvana), as distinguished from a self-sacrificing path toward the ultimate attainment of Buddhahood. However, Tibetan Buddhists profess to use the term in a nonpejorative manner, for example to refer to their courses of study in epistemology and monastic discipline. Hinayana has evolved to have a number of alternative meanings, nearly all of which remain the subject of controversy.

Hīnayāna as a term for non-Mahayana Buddhist Sects
In western-language books, articles, and sermons, probably the most common usage of hīnayāna is as a term for one of two or three major existing denominations of Buddhism, along with Mahayana and sometimes Vajrayana. Such usage is common in popular, reference, and scholarly works. In this type of usage, hīnayāna refers to non-Mahayana Buddhist persons, practices, texts, and doctrines, such as those of the existing Theravada and Risshu denominations, and of a number of extinct early Buddhist schools. However, such usage contravenes the recommendation of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, which in 1950 declared that Hīnayāna is an inappropriate term for Theravada, the dominant non-Mahayana Buddhist sect still in existence. Nevertheless, usage continues in the way declared inappropriate by the Fellowship. Apparently, few if any persons have ever referred to themselves as a member of a hinayana sect; thus such usage undoubtedly reflects a Mahayana POV that some non-Buddhists have adopted, knowingly or not. Significantly, some scholars and popular sources continue to express a POV that stipulates the pejorative origin of the term yet continues to identify hīnayāna with both rejection of the Mahayana texts and aspiration to inferior attainments.

Hinayana as a term for extinct Buddhist sects
Some authors affiliated with Theravada Buddhism occasionally use the term hīnayāna to refer to a number of early Buddhist sects that are said to be no longer in existence, excluding  contemporary Theravada. During the centuries following the death of the historical Buddha, schisms caused a number of sects to emerge. Sri Lankan historical records indicate that Theravada arose after a representative (see Mahinda) of one such sect (see Vibhajjavāda) served as a missionary to Sri Lanka during the 3rd century BCE. Thus, it's conceptually possible to justify a claim that Theravada is not identical with any of the extinct schools. Nevertheless, use of hīnayāna as a term that refers only to extinct sects is rare, and normally qualified by cautionary statements and/or placement within single-quote marks, e.g. `hīnayāna'.

Hinayana as a nonsectarian term for lesser attainments
Buddhist texts identify various degrees of attainments possible for practitioners, often dividing attainments into three categories. Among several enumerations of the three categories, a common variant refers to the sravaka, pratekyabuddha, and bodhisattva, in ascending order of attainment. Prominent Theravada-affiliated scholar Walpola Rahula asserted that these categories are logically independent of one's religious denomination. In this sense hinayana refers to practices and doctrines that are concerned only with the first two of these attainments without reference to different branches of Buddhism, canon, nor geography. This definition implies that some Theravadins aim to be bodhisattvas, and some Mahayanists aim for lesser, hinayana attainments. It is possible that other scholars, Mahayanists, and Vajrayanists may agreecitation neededwith Dr. Rahula on this point.

Hinayana as a term of abuse
Asanga compares hinayāna with things that are best avoided, namely "poison, weapons, lightning bolts, and enemies" (from a translation edited by Robert Thurman). Some four centuries later, Huayen founder Fa-Tsang referred to the sect attributed to Asanga as hinayāna, in an unequivocally disparaging sense. A number of Mahayana commentators apparently divorced the term from reference to specific sects or levels of attainment They simply used the term to criticize doctrines and practices that they saw as deficient or worse.

Use of Hīnayāna as an indicator of Mahayana point of view
Some Buddhists and scholars express the attitude that statements containing the word hīnayāna are statements of Mahayana or Vajrayana doctrine. According to this view, statements containing the word hīnayāna necessarily express beliefs held by Mahayanists and Vajrayanists, rather than expressing objective statements about non-Mahayana Buddhists. Authors who see hīnayāna as an indicator of Mahayana (or Vajrayana) POV interpret statements containing the word "hinayana" in the sense that "Mahayana (or Vajjayana) Buddhists believe(d) thus-and-so about hinayana".

Etymology
The Sanskrit term Hina expresses a sense of being deficient. Yana in hīnayāna typically refers to vehicle, although yana can also mean going or path. With respect to Indian tradition and literature, the various yanas (including hīnayāna ) often refer to the metaphor of a spiritual journey. See Yana (Buddhism) for more information.

Chinese texts typically render hīnayāna as 小乘 (xiăoshèng). In this rendering, he first character xiăo stands in place of hina and the second character shèng stands in place of yana (and is the same character found in 大乘 [dàshéng], the Chinese equivalent of Mahayana). According to the Unihan database, xiăo translates as "small, tiny, insignificant". But in Buddhist contexts, xiăo often implies inferiority. Thus, common modern usage of xiăo does not necessarily convey the negative connotation expressed when xiăoshèng originally appeared.

Origins in Mahayana canonical literature
The term first appeared in Prajñāpāramitā literature. The earliest recorded occurrence of the term Hīnayāna may be in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra ("Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines"). Chapter 11 ("Mara's Deeds") depicts a conversation between Buddha and the Bodhisattva Subhuti, wherein Buddha admonishes those who disavow this sutra in favor of certain unnamed Buddhist sutras. In the following passage (as translated by Richard Babcock), Mara is the demon that Gautama Buddha was said to subdue just prior to his awakening.
 * Subhuti, do these Bodhisattvas appear to be very intelligent who, having obtained and met with the irreversible, the great vehicle, and then again abandon this, turn away from this, and prefer an inferior vehicle?


 * Subhuti: No, Lord!


 * The Lord: If a starving man refuses superior and excellent food, and prefers to eat inferior and stale food, is he using the full potential of his intelligence?


 * Subhuti: No, Lord!


 * The Lord: Just so, Subhuti, in the future some Bodhisattvas still refuse this perfection of wisdom, and prefer the Sutras associated with the level of Sravaka, the Disciple or Pratyekabuddha, and still seek all-knowledge through Sutras which welcome the level of Disciple or Pratyekabuddha. Do these Bodhisattvas use the full potential of their intelligence?


 * Subhuti: No, Lord!


 * The Lord: Also, this is -seen as- being done to these ones by Mara.

Thus, the seminal passage identifies hīnayāna as a vehicle of inferior stages of enlightenment for those who reject the Mahayana canon. But the sutra arguably reserves its criticism to those who have taken the bodhisattva vows and who subsequently backslided into a path toward inferior levels of attainment. In contrast, another (possibly slightly later) text, the Lotus Sutra, mentions hīnayāna in chapters 2 and 6; these passages criticize hinayana without reference to backsliding as follows (wherein translator Burton Watson renders hīnayāna as "lesser vehicle").


 * Chapter 2: "there is only the Law of the one vehicle,
 * there are not two, there are not three...
 * The Buddhas appear in the world
 * solely for this one reason, which is true;
 * the other two are not the truth.
 * Never do they use a lesser vehicle
 * to save living beings and ferry them across
 * The Buddha himself dwells in this Great Vehicle...
 * If I used a lesser vehicle
 * to convert even one person,
 * I would be guilty of stinginess and greed,
 * but such a thing would be impossible."


 * Chapter 6: (Subhuti and two other monks say in unison)
 * "...whenever we recall the errors of the Lesser Vehicle,
 * we do not know what we should do
 * to gain the Buddha's unsurpassed wisdom.
 * Though we hear the Buddha's voice
 * telling us that we will attain Buddhahood,
 * in our hearts we still harbor anxiety and fear.."

Another fairly early use of hīnayāna occurs in the Vimalakirti Sutra, whose second chapter concerns the evangelism of the layman Vimalakirti. The text reads (as translated by Robert Thurman) "To turn people away from the Hinayana and to engage them in the Mahayana, he appeared among listeners and teachers of the Dharma." . The Vimalakirti therefore implies that its author perceived that the listeners (sravaka) may have been swayed by inferior teachings. However, the text does not appear to establish a definitive correspondence between sravakayana and hīnayāna.