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{{Short description|Term for preliminary Buddhism before Mahayāna}}
{{for|the American death metal band|Hinayana (band)}}
{{Early Buddhism}}
{{Buddhism}}

'''Hīnayāna''' ([[Sanskrit]]: {{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|iː|n|ə|ˈ|j|ɑː|n|ə}}, {{lang|sa|हीनयान}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/h%C4%ABnay%C4%81na/281660/1|title=Sanskrit Dictionary}}</ref> literally meaning "Small Vehicle" or "Lesser Vehicle",<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996">{{cite journal |author1-last=Tola |author1-first=Fernando |author2-last=Dragonetti |author2-first=Carmen |year=1996 |title=The Conflict of Change in Buddhism: The Hīnayānist Reaction |editor-last=Durt |editor-first=Hubert |journal=Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie |volume=9 |issue=1: ''Mémorial Anna Seidel. Religions traditionnelles d'Asie orientale: Tome II'' |location=[[Paris]] |publisher=[[French School of the Far East|Éditions de l'École française d'Extrème-Orient]] |pages=233–254 |doi=10.3406/asie |issn=2117-6272 |jstor=45276191}}</ref> is a term that was at one time applied collectively to the ''[[Śrāvakayāna]]'' ("Listeners Vehicle") and ''[[Pratyekabuddhayāna]]'' ("Solitary-realizers Vehicle") [[Buddhist paths to liberation|paths]] of [[Buddhism]] by followers of the [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist school]].<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/> This term appeared in [[Classical India]] around the 1st or 2nd century CE.<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/> The ''Hīnayāna'' is considered as the preliminary or small (''hīna'') vehicle (''yāna'') of the Buddha's teachings. It is often contrasted with the ''[[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]]'' ("Great Vehicle"), the second vehicle of the Buddha's teachings, whose followers consider to be the advanced, greater (''mahā'') vehicle (''yāna'').<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/> The third vehicle of the Buddha's teachings is the ''[[Vajrayana|Vajrayāna]]'' ("Diamond Vehicle" or "Thunderbolt Vehicle").<ref name="Sopa 2004">{{cite book |author-last=Sopa |author-first=Geshe Lhundub |year=2004 |chapter=Atiśa: The Source of the Lamrim Tradition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSCN9gamz-wC&pg=PA30 |editor-last1=Patt |editor-first1=David |editor-last2=Newman |editor-first2=Beth |title=Steps on the Path to Enlightenment: A Commentary on Tsongkhapa's Lamrim Chenmo. Volume 1: The Foundation Practices |location=[[Boston]] |publisher=[[Wisdom Publications]] |pages=21–42 |isbn=9780861713035 |lccn=2003017363}}</ref>

Western scholars used the term ''Hīnayāna'' to describe the early teachings of Buddhism, as the ''Mahāyāna'' teachings were generally given later.<ref>Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899), "Proper Noun: simpler or lesser vehicle. Name of the earliest system of Buddhist doctrine (opposite to the later Mahayana; see [[Yana (Buddhism)|Yana]])."</ref> [[Buddhist studies|Modern Buddhist scholarship]] has deprecated the term as derogatory and polemical,<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/> and instead uses the term ''[[Nikaya Buddhism|Nikāya]]'' referring to the [[early Buddhist schools]]. ''Hīnayāna'' has also been inappropriately used as a synonym for the [[Theravada|Theravāda]] [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist school]], which is the main tradition of Buddhism in [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Southeast Asia]].<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/>

==Etymology==
The word ''hīnayāna'' is formed from the adjective ''hīna'' ([[Devanagari]]: हीन)<ref>{{cite web | title= Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit | url= http://www.spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=DI&beginning=0+&tinput=hina+&trans=Translate&direction=AU | access-date=2010-06-29}}</ref> meaning "little", "poor", "inferior", "abandoned", "deficient", "defective"; and the noun ''yāna'' (Devanagari: यान):<ref>{{cite web | title= Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit | url= http://www.spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=DI&tinput=yaana&country_ID=&trans=Translate&direction=AU | access-date=2009-04-15}}</ref> "vehicle", where "vehicle" or "path" refers to "a way of life that leads to enlightenment". The [[Pali Text Society]]'s ''Pāli-English Dictionary'' (1921–1925) defines ''hīna'' in even stronger terms, with a semantic field that includes "poor, miserable; vile, base, abject, contemptible", and "despicable".

The term ''Hīnayāna'' was translated by [[Kumārajīva]] and others into [[Classical Chinese]] as "small vehicle" (小 meaning "small", 乘 meaning "vehicle"), although earlier and more accurate translations of the term also exist. In [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] (''Baga Holgon'') the term for hinayana also means "small" or "lesser" vehicle or better called path,<ref>"It is also certain that [[Buddhism|Buddhist groups and individuals]] in [[China]] (including [[Tibet]]), [[Korea]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Japan]]) have in the past, as in the very recent present, identified themselves as [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhists]], even if the polemical or value claim embedded in that term was only dimly felt, if at all.", ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism'', 2004, page 492.</ref> while in [[Classical Tibetan]] there are at least two words to designate the term: ''theg chung'', meaning "small vehicle",<ref>{{cite web |url= http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/theg_chung |title=Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary:theg chung |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=[[Rangjung Yeshe Wiki]] |publisher=Tsadra Foundation }}</ref> and ''theg dman'', meaning "inferior vehicle" or "inferior spiritual approach".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/theg_dman |title=Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary:theg dman |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=[[Rangjung Yeshe Wiki]] |publisher=Tsadra Foundation }}</ref>

According to [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] monk and [[Kagyu]] master [[Thrangu Rinpoche]], the term ''Hīnayāna'' is in no way implying that the ''[[Śrāvakayāna]]'' ("Listeners Vehicle") and ''[[Pratyekabuddhayāna]]'' ("Solitary-realizers Vehicle") are somehow "inferior" [[Buddhist paths to liberation]] in comparison to the later two vehicles (i.e., [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] and [[Vajrayana|Vajrayāna]]). In his translation and commentary of [[Asanga|Asaṅga]]'s ''Distinguishing Dharmā from Dharmāta'', he writes: "all three traditions of Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna were practiced in Tibet, and the Hīnayāna, which literally means "lesser vehicle", is in no way inferior to the Mahāyāna".{{sfn|Rinpoche|2004|p=113}}

==Origins==
{{Main|History of Buddhism in India|Pre-sectarian Buddhism}}
{{Further|Early Buddhist schools|Schools of Buddhism|Southern Buddhism}}

According to [[Jan Nattier]], it is most likely that the term ''Hīnayāna'' postdates the term ''Mahāyāna'' and was only added at a later date due to antagonism and conflict between proponents of the [[Bodhisattva]] and [[Arhat]] ideals within the [[Sangha|Saṃgha]]. The sequence of terms then began with the term ''Bodhisattvayāna'' ("Bodhisattva Vehicle"), which was given the epithet ''Mahāyāna'' ("Great Vehicle"). It was only later, after attitudes toward the Bodhisattva ideal had become more critical, that the term ''Hīnayāna'' ("Small Vehicle" or "Lesser Vehicle") was created as a back-formation,<ref name="Tola-Dragonetti 1996"/> contrasting with the already established term ''Mahāyāna''.{{sfn|Nattier|2003|p=174 (footnote 6)}}

The [[Mahayana sutras|earliest Mahāyāna texts]] often use the term ''Mahāyāna'' as an epithet and synonym for ''Bodhisattvayāna'' but the term ''Hīnayāna'' is comparatively rare, and the latter is usually not found at all in the earliest translations. Therefore, the often-perceived symmetry between ''Mahāyāna'' and ''Hīnayāna'' can be deceptive, as the terms were not actually coined in relation to one another in the same era.{{sfn|Nattier|2003|p=172}}

According to [[Paul Williams (philosopher)|Paul Williams]], "the deep-rooted misconception concerning an unfailing, ubiquitous fierce criticism of the Lesser Vehicle by the [Mahāyāna] is not supported by our texts".{{sfn|Williams|Williams|2004|p=43}} Williams states that while evidence of conflict is present in some cases, there is also substantial evidence demonstrating peaceful coexistence between the two traditions.{{sfn|Williams|Williams|2004|p=43}}

==Mahāyāna members of the early Buddhist schools==

Although the 18–20 [[early Buddhist schools]] are sometimes loosely classified as Hīnayāna in modern times, this is not necessarily accurate. There is no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school of Buddhism but rather as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines.{{sfn|Nattier|2003|pp=193-194}} [[Paul Williams (philosopher)|Paul Williams]] has also noted that the Mahāyāna never had nor ever attempted to have a separate [[vinaya]] or ordination lineage from the early Buddhist schools, and therefore [[bhikkhu|bhikṣu]]s and [[bhikkhuni|bhikṣuṇī]]s adhering to the Mahāyāna formally adheres to the vinaya of an early school. This continues today with the [[Dharmaguptaka]] ordination lineage in East Asia and the [[Mulasarvastivada|Mūlasarvāstivāda]] ordination lineage in [[Tibetan Buddhism]]. Mahāyāna was never a separate sect of the early schools.{{sfn|Williams|2009|pp=4-5}} From Chinese monks visiting India, we now know that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks in India often lived in the same monasteries side by side.{{sfn|Williams|2000|p=97}}

The seventh-century Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim [[Yijing (monk)|Yijing]] wrote about the relationship between the various "vehicles" and the early Buddhist schools in India. He wrote, "There exist in the West numerous subdivisions of the schools which have different origins, but there are only four principal schools of continuous tradition." These schools are the [[Mahāsāṃghika]] Nikāya, [[Sthavira nikāya]], Mūlasarvāstivāda Nikāya, and [[Saṃmitīya]] Nikāya.<ref>Walser, Joseph (2005) ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'': pp. 41</ref> Explaining their doctrinal affiliations, he then writes, "Which of the four schools should be grouped with the Mahāyāna or with the Hīnayāna is not determined." That is to say, there was no simple correspondence between a Buddhist school and whether its members learn "Hīnayāna" or "Mahāyāna" teachings.<ref>Walser, Joseph (2005) ''Nagarjuna in Context: Mahayana Buddhism and Early Indian Culture'': pp. 41-42</ref>

To identify entire schools as "Hīnayāna" that contained not only śrāvakas and [[pratyekabuddha]]s but also Mahāyāna bodhisattvas would be attacking the schools of their fellow Mahāyānists as well as their own. Instead, what is demonstrated in the definition of ''Hīnayāna'' given by Yijing is that the term referred to individuals based on doctrinal differences.{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=5}}

==Hīnayāna as Śrāvakayāna==

Scholar Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahāyāna ... very occasionally referred  to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayāna, the Inferior Way, [...] the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes that the term [[Śrāvakayāna]] was "the more politically correct and much more usual" term used by Mahāyānists.<ref>Isabelle Onians, "Tantric Buddhist Apologetics, or Antinomianism as a Norm," D.Phil. dissertation, Oxford, Trinity Term 2001 pg 72</ref> Jonathan Silk has argued that the term "Hinayana" was used to refer to whomever one wanted to criticize on any given occasion, and did not refer to any definite grouping of Buddhists.<ref>Jonathan A Silk. What, if anything, is Mahayana Buddhism? Numen 49:4 (2002):335-405. Article reprinted in Williams, ''Buddhism, Vol III'', Routledge, 2005</ref>

==Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna==

===Views of Chinese pilgrims===
The Chinese monk [[Yijing (monk)|Yijing]], who visited India in the 7th century, distinguished Mahāyāna from Hīnayāna as follows:

{{Blockquote|Both adopt one and the same [[Vinaya]], and they have in common the prohibitions of the [[anantarika-karma|five offenses]], and also the practice of the [[Four Noble Truths]]. Those who venerate (regard with great respect) the [[bodhisattva]]s and read the [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna sūtras]] are called the Mahāyānists, while those who do not perform these are called the Hīnayānists.{{sfn|Williams|2009|p=5}}}}

In the 7th century, the Chinese Buddhist monk [[Xuanzang]] describes the concurrent existence of the [[Mahavihara|Mahāvihara]] and the [[Abhayagiri vihāra]] in Sri Lanka. He refers to the monks of the Mahāvihara as the "Hīnayāna Sthaviras" and the monks of Abhayagiri vihāra as the "Mahāyāna Sthaviras".<ref>Baruah, Bibhuti. ''Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism.'' 2008. p. 53</ref> Xuanzang further writes, "The Mahāvihāravāsins reject the Mahāyāna and practice the Hīnayāna, while the Abhayagirivihāravāsins study both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings and propagate the ''[[Tripiṭaka]]''."{{sfn|Hirakawa|Groner|2007|p=121}}

===Philosophical differences===
Mahayanists were primarily in philosophical dialectic with the [[Vaibhāṣika]] school of [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]], which had by far the most "comprehensive edifice of doctrinal systematics" of the nikāya schools.<ref>""one does not find anywhere else a body of doctrine as organized or as complete as theirs". . . "Indeed, no other competing schools have ever come close to building up such a comprehensive edifice of doctrinal systematics as the Vaibhāśika." ''The Sautrantika theory of seeds (bija) revisited: With special reference to the ideological continuity between Vasubandhu's theory of seeds and its Srilata/Darstantika precedents'' by Park, Changhwan, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 2007 pg 2</ref> With this in mind it is sometimes argued{{By whom?|date=July 2025}} that the Theravada would not have been considered a "Hinayana" school by Mahayanists because, unlike the now-extinct [[Sarvastivada]] school, the primary object of Mahayana criticism, the Theravada school does not claim the existence of independent [[Dharma#Dharmas in Buddhist phenomenology|dharmas]]; in this it maintains the attitude of [[Pre-sectarian Buddhism|early Buddhism]]. Additionally, the concept of the bodhisattva as one who puts off enlightenment rather than reaching awakening as soon as possible, has no roots in Theravada textual or cultural contexts, current or historical. Aside from the Theravada schools being geographically distant from the Mahayana, the Hinayana distinction is used in reference to certain views and practices that had become found within the Mahayana tradition itself. Theravada, as well as Mahayana schools stress the urgency of one's own awakening in order to end suffering.{{sfn|Hoffman|Mahinda|1996|p=192}}{{sfn|King|1999|p=86}}{{sfn|Thera|Bodhi|1998|p=42}} Some contemporary Theravadin figures{{Who?|date=July 2025}} have thus indicated a sympathetic stance toward the Mahayana philosophy found in the ''[[Heart Sutra]]'' and the ''[[Mūlamadhyamakakārikā]]''.{{sfn|Lopez|2005|p=24}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Fronsdal|first=Gil|author-link=Gil Fronsdal|title=Emptiness in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/emptiness-in-theravada-buddhism/|publisher=Insight Meditation Center|access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref>

The Mahayanists were bothered by the substantialist thought of the Sarvāstivādins and [[Sautrāntika|Sautrāntikins]], and in emphasizing the doctrine of [[śūnyatā]], [[David Kalupahana]] holds that they endeavored to preserve the early teaching.{{sfn|Kalupahana|2015|p=6}} The Theravadins too refuted the Sarvāstivādins and Sautrāntikins (and followers of other schools) on the grounds that their theories were in conflict with the non-substantialism of the canon. The Theravada arguments are preserved in the ''[[Kathavatthu]]''.{{sfn|Kalupahana|2015|p=24}}

===Opinions of scholars===
Some western scholars{{Who?|date=July 2025}} still regard the Theravada school to be one of the Hinayana schools referred to in Mahayana literature, or regard Hinayana as a synonym for Theravada.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Buddhism in Its Connexion with Brāhmanism and Hindūism: And in Its Contrast with Christianity|author=Monier-Williams, M.|date=1889|publisher=John Murray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uiUVAAAAYAAJ|access-date=2015-06-13}}</ref>{{sfn|Gombrich|2006|p=83}}{{sfn|Collins|1990|p=21}}{{sfn|LeVine|Gellner|2007|p=14}}{{sfn|Swearer|2006|p=83}} These scholars understand the term to refer to schools of Buddhism that did not accept the teachings of the [[Mahāyāna sūtras]] as authentic teachings of the Buddha.{{sfn|Gombrich|2006|p=83}}{{sfn|LeVine|Gellner|2007|p=14}} At the same time, scholars have objected to the pejorative connotation of the term Hinayana and some scholars do not use it for any school.<ref>MacMillan Reference Library of Buddhism, 2004, page 328</ref>

[[Robert Thurman]] writes, "'Nikaya Buddhism' is a coinage of Professor [[Masatoshi Nagatomi]] of [[Harvard University]], who suggested it to me as a usage for the eighteen schools of Indian Buddhism to avoid the term 'Hinayana Buddhism,' which is found offensive by some members of the Theravada tradition."<ref>Robert Thurman and Professor Masatoshi Nagatomi of Harvard University: Robert Thurman, in ''The Emptiness That is Compassion'', footnote 10, 1980.</ref>

Within Mahayana Buddhism, there were a variety of interpretations as to whom or to what the term ''Hinayana'' referred. [[Kalu Rinpoche]] stated the "lesser" or "greater" designation "did not refer to economic or social status, but concerned the spiritual capacities of the practitioner".{{sfn|Rinpoche|1995|p=15}} Rinpoche states:{{Blockquote|The Small Vehicle is based on becoming aware of the fact that all we experience in samsara is marked by suffering. Being aware of this engenders the will to rid ourselves of this suffering, to liberate ourselves on an individual level, and to attain happiness. We are moved by our own interest. Renunciation and perseverance allow us to attain our goal.{{sfn|Rinpoche|1995|p=16}} }}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{citation|last=Analayo|first=Bhikkhu|author-link=Bhikkhu Analayo|year=2014|url=https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/hinayana.pdf|title=The Hinayana Fallacy|journal= Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies|issue= 6|pages= 9–31}}
* {{citation|last=Collins|first=Steven|year=1990|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravāda Buddhism|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521701488}}
* {{citation|last=Gombrich|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Gombrich|year=2006|title=Theravāda Buddhism|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0415-36508-6}}
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* {{citation|last1=Hoffman|first1=Frank J.|last2=Mahinda|first2=Deegalle|title=Pāli Buddhism|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0700703593}}
* {{citation|last=Kalupahana|first=David|author-link=David Kalupahana|title=Mulamadhyamakakarika of Nagarjuna|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]]|year=2015|isbn=978-8120807747}}
* {{citation|last=King|first=Richard|title=Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought|publisher=[[Georgetown University Press]]|year=1999|isbn=978-0878407569}}
* {{citation|last1=LeVine|first1=Sarah|last2=Gellner|first2=David N.|year=2007|title=Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century Nepal|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=978-0674025547}}
* {{citation|last=Lopez|first=Donald Jr.|author-link=Donald S. Lopez Jr.|title=The Madman's Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0226493169}}
* {{citation|last=Nattier|first=Jan|author-link=Jan Nattier|year=2003|title=A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā) |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]]|page=174 (footnote 6)|isbn=978-0824830038}}
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* {{citation|last=Rinpoche|first=Khenchen Thrangu|title=Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata, A Commentary on The Treatise of Maitreya|year=2004|publisher=Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Charitable Trust |isbn=978-1877294334}}
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* {{citation|last1=Thera|first1=Nyanaponika|author-link1=Nyanaponika Thera|last2=Bodhi|first2=Bhikkhu|author-link2=Bhikkhu Bodhi|title=Abhidhamma Studies: Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time|year=1998|publisher=[[Wisdom Publications]]|isbn=978-0861711352}}
* {{citation|last1=Williams|first1=Jane|last2=Williams|first2=Paul|author-link2=Paul Williams (philosopher)|title=Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume 3.|year=2004|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-0415332293}}
* {{citation|last=Williams|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Williams (philosopher)|title=Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition |year=2000|isbn=978-0415207010}}
* {{citation|last=Williams|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Williams (philosopher)|title=Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-415-35653-4}}

==External links==
* [http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/theramaya.html "Theravada - Mahayana Buddhism"] Dr. W. Rahula's article
* [http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha091.htm Mahayana - Hinayana - Theravada] introduced by Binh Hanson, webmaster of "BuddhaSasana" (www.budsas.org)

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[[Category:Buddhist terminology]]
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