Theravada


Theravāda is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or Dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia. As of 2010, Theravada is the second largest branch of Buddhism with 36% Buddhists belonging to Theravada, compared to 53% to Mahayana.
The Pāli Canon is the most complete Buddhist canon surviving in a classical Indian language, Pāli, which serves as the school's sacred language and lingua franca. In contrast to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. One element of this conservatism is the fact that Theravāda rejects the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras. Consequently, Theravāda generally does not recognize the existence of many Buddhas and bodhisattvas believed by the Mahāyāna school, such as Amitābha and Vairocana, because they are not found in their scriptures.
Theravāda derives from Indian Sthavira nikāya. This tradition developed significantly in India and Sri Lanka from the 3rd century BCE onward, particularly with the writing down of the Pāli Canon and the growth of its commentarial literature. From both India, as its historical origin, and Sri Lanka, as its principal center of development, the Theravāda tradition subsequently spread to Southeast Asia, where it became the dominant form of Buddhism. Theravāda is the official religion of Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Cambodia, and the main dominant Buddhist variant found in Laos and Thailand. It is practiced by minorities in India, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, North Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The diaspora of all of these groups, as well as converts around the world, also embrace and practice Theravāda Buddhism.
During the modern era, new developments have included Buddhist modernism, the Vipassana movement which reinvigorated Theravāda meditation practice, the growth of the Thai Forest Tradition which reemphasized forest monasticism and the spread of Theravāda westward to places such as India and Nepal, along with Buddhist immigrants and converts in the European Union and in the United States.

History

Pre-modern

The Theravāda school descends from the Vibhajjavāda, a division within the Sthāvira nikāya, one of the two major orders that arose after the first schism in the Indian Buddhist community. Theravāda sources trace their tradition to the Third Buddhist council when elder Moggaliputta-Tissa is said to have compiled the Kathavatthu, an important work which lays out the Vibhajjavāda doctrinal position.
Aided by the patronage of Mauryan kings like Ashoka, this school spread throughout India and reached Sri Lanka through the efforts of missionary monks like Mahinda. In Sri Lanka, it became known as the Tambapaṇṇiya which was based at the Great Vihara in Anuradhapura. According to Theravāda sources, another one of the Ashokan missions was also sent to Suvaṇṇabhūmi, which may refer to Southeast Asia.
By the first century BCE, Theravāda Buddhism was well established in the main settlements of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura. The Pali Canon, which contains the main scriptures of the Theravāda, was committed to writing in the first century BCE. Throughout the history of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka, Theravāda was the main religion of the Sinhalese people and its temples and monasteries were patronized by the Sri Lankan kings, who saw themselves as the protectors of the religion.
File:Old_Bagan,_Myanmar,_Bagan_plains_at_sunset.jpg|thumb|240px|Bagan, the capital of the Bagan Kingdom. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000 temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains.
Over time, two other sects split off from the Mahāvihāra tradition, the Abhayagiri and Jetavana. While the Abhayagiri sect became known for the syncretic study of Mahayana and Vajrayana texts, as well as the Theravāda canon, the Mahāvihāra tradition did not accept these new scriptures. Instead, Mahāvihāra scholars like Buddhaghosa focused on the exegesis of the Pali scriptures and on the Abhidhamma. These Theravāda sub-sects often came into conflict with each other over royal patronage. The reign of Parākramabāhu I saw an extensive reform of the Sri Lankan sangha after years of warfare on the island. Parākramabāhu created a single unified sangha which came to be dominated by the Mahāvihāra sect.
Epigraphical evidence has established that Theravāda Buddhism became a dominant religion in the Southeast Asian kingdoms of Sri Ksetra and Dvaravati from about the 5th century CE onwards. The oldest surviving Buddhist texts in the Pāli language are gold plates found at Sri Ksetra dated circa the 5th to 6th century. Before the Theravāda tradition became the dominant religion in Southeast Asia, Mahāyāna, Vajrayana and Hinduism were also prominent.
Starting at around the 11th century, Sinhalese Theravāda monks and Southeast Asian elites led a widespread conversion of most of mainland Southeast Asia to the Theravādin Mahavihara school. The patronage of monarchs such as the Burmese king Anawrahta and the Thai king Ram Khamhaeng was instrumental in the rise of Theravāda Buddhism as the predominant religion of Burma and Thailand.
Burmese and Thai kings saw themselves as Dhamma Kings and as protectors of the Theravāda faith. They promoted the building of new temples, patronized scholarship, monastic ordinations and missionary works as well as attempted to eliminate certain non-Buddhist practices like animal sacrifices. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Theravāda also became established as the state religion in Cambodia and Laos. In Cambodia, numerous Hindu and Mahāyāna temples, most famously Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, were transformed into Theravādin monasteries.

Modern history

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Theravāda Buddhists came into direct contact with western ideologies, religions and modern science. The various responses to this encounter have been called "Buddhist modernism". In the British colonies of Ceylon and Burma, Buddhist institutions lost their traditional role as the prime providers of education. In response to this, Buddhist organizations were founded which sought to preserve Buddhist scholarship and provide a Buddhist education. Anagarika Dhammapala, Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera and Henry Steel Olcott were some of the main figures of the Sri Lankan Buddhist revival. Two new monastic orders were formed in the 19th century, the Amarapura Nikāya and the Rāmañña Nikāya.
In Burma, an influential modernist figure was king Mindon Min, known for his patronage of the Fifth Buddhist council and the Tripiṭaka tablets at Kuthodaw Pagoda with the intention of preserving the Buddha Dhamma. Burma also saw the growth of the "Vipassana movement", which focused on reviving Buddhist meditation and doctrinal learning. Ledi Sayadaw was one of the key figures in this movement. After independence, Myanmar held the Sixth Buddhist council to create a new redaction of the Pāli Canon, which was then published by the government in 40 volumes. The Vipassana movement continued to grow after independence, becoming an international movement with centers around the world. Influential meditation teachers of the post-independence era include U Narada, Mahasi Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Pandita, Nyanaponika Thera, Webu Sayadaw, U Ba Khin and his student S.N. Goenka.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, the religion became much more centralized, bureaucratized and controlled by the state after a series of reforms promoted by Thai kings of the Chakri dynasty. King Mongkut and his successor Chulalongkorn were especially involved in centralizing sangha reforms. Under these kings, the sangha was organized into a hierarchical bureaucracy led by the Sangha Council of Elders, the highest body of the Thai sangha. Mongkut also led the creation of a new monastic order, the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, which kept a stricter monastic discipline than the rest of the Thai sangha. The Dhammayuttika movement was characterized by an emphasis on the original Pali Canon and a rejection of Thai folk beliefs which were seen as irrational. Under the leadership of Prince Wachirayan Warorot, a new education and examination system was introduced for Thai monks.
File:AjahnChahSangha.jpg|thumb|240px|Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Chah with Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Pasanno and other monastics
The 20th century also saw the growth of "forest traditions" which focused on forest living and strict monastic discipline. The main forest movements of this era are the Sri Lankan Forest Tradition and the Thai Forest Tradition, founded by Ajahn Mun and his students.
Theravāda Buddhism in Cambodia and Laos went through similar experiences in the modern era. Both had to endure French colonialism, destructive civil wars and oppressive communist governments. Under French Rule, French indologists of the École française d'Extrême-Orient became involved in the reform of Buddhism, setting up institutions for the training of Cambodian and Lao monks, such as the Ecole de Pali which was founded in Phnom Penh in 1914. While the Khmer Rouge effectively destroyed Cambodia's Buddhist institutions, after the end of the communist regime the Cambodian Sangha was re-established by monks who had returned from exile. In contrast, communist rule in Laos was less destructive since the Pathet Lao sought to make use of the sangha for political ends by imposing direct state control. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the official attitudes toward Buddhism began to liberalise in Laos and there was a resurgence of traditional Buddhist activities such as merit-making and doctrinal study.
The modern era also saw the spread of Theravāda Buddhism around the world and the revival of the religion in places where it remains a minority faith. Some of the major events of the spread of modern Theravāda include: