Clear Vision Trust

An article by Chris Ward, of the Amaravati Lay Buddhist Association. Amaravati is a Theravadin monastery in Hertfordshire, UK.

The Inferior Path - the Mysterious hinayana

It is not long before the Buddhist practitioner encounters the idea of the ‘hinayana’. Usually, the word is to be found in a Mahayana context and quite often, the term is used as though it is based on widely accepted Buddhist teachings.

However, the truth is that there is no such thing as hinayana in the sense of a substantive Buddhist school, tradition, or sect, or as a distinct early doctrine, or as any current Buddhist tradition. In these contexts ‘hinayana’ is a mythical beast, which started life as a term of abuse, then expanded to take on a life of its own as the bogey-man of the Mahayana, and ended up in Tibetan doctrine as one of a number of ‘yanas’ (vehicles, or paths of practice). For a scholarly view of the history, see for example, Williams (2000 p.256), Katz, Strong p.88, Gombrich p.112, Harvey p.92-93, and Harrison, p.84-85.

So, what exactly does the word ‘hinayana’ mean? Although sometimes described as ‘small or lesser vehicle’, ‘hīna’ is defined in the Pali English Dictionary as ‘inferior, low, poor, miserable, vile, base, contemptible, despicable’ (and has similar meanings in Sanskrit). So, at best, hinayana means the inferior vehicle or path, and at worst, the vile, contemptible, or despicable vehicle. The term was clearly intended to be polemical and abusive (Williams 2000: p.96).

The hinayana word first appeared in a few Mahayana sūtras and gradually hardened in tone over time. Sūtras, like all early texts, were written by monks and nuns; however, unlike the Pali Canon which is regarded as recording the words of the historic Buddha and his immediate disciples, sūtras generally represent the insights of the later authors. Having said this, it is hardly surprising that over a period of several hundred years following the Buddha’s demise some monks and nuns developed profound insights and felt moved to communicate these.

Mahayana sūtras may take earlier teachings and present them in a new light or take them to a logical conclusion, or they may change the emphasis of the earlier teachings (Williams 1989: p28-30). Sūtras often emphasise the importance of compassion and skilful means and the motivation to follow the Bodhisattva path to full Buddhahood.

So who were the early objects of the hinayana description? Apart from those who disagreed with the sūtra containing the condemnation, it is not clear. No body or group has ever claimed to be ‘hinayana’. Neither is there any evidence of conflict to explain the defensiveness in the sūtras. Those monks and nuns who had Mahayanist tendencies lived amicably with monks and nuns who did not (Williams 2000: p.97).

And the insults are not returned: there appears to be no non-Mahayana writer who felt moved to respond to the charge of being one of the ‘hinayana’, so presumably there was no one who felt that the description applied to them.

If there had been a lively debate between actual Buddhist schools, we might have expected some mention in commentaries such as Nagarjuna’s works or in Buddhaghosa’s Path of Purification; (a work now regarded as a compendium of Theravada doctrine). This is especially so when we consider that Mahayana sūtras which used the hinayana word were being written from about 100 BCE onwards, and Buddhaghosa was active around 500 CE. He could be expected to have been well aware of any such controversy if one had actually existed.

We might assume then, that the abuse was aimed at hypothetical recipients, in the same way that an old-fashioned school teacher might have said that he does not want any silly slackers in his class. The point is that no one would claim to be from the ‘class of silly slackers’ just as no tradition has ever called itself hinayana.

Nevertheless, in what looks like a compounding of errors, a 2000 year old term of abuse describing hypothetical ‘Buddhist silly slackers’ was then given fresh substance within the Tibetan tradition. Gradually, leading up to around 1000 – 1200 CE, the idea of the three vehicles arose. These are described as the hinayana, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana. This places the mythical hinayana as a basic practice and links it with the idea of the arahant – the perfected human in the Pali Canon and in current Theravada practice. The Bodhisattva path is emphasised within Mahayana, and Vajrayana is presented as the ‘fast path’ to Buddhahood.

This Tibetan hierarchy appears to be partly based upon a mistranslation of hinayana into the Tibetan "theg pa dman pa" which actually means a poor or limited spiritual motivation.

It is a pity that the hinayana word has become conflated with spiritual aspiration in Tibetan teachings, since there is a useful distinction to be made between the levels of altruism or selfishness that practitioners of any contemporary Buddhist persuasion (whether Theravada, or Mahayana) may adopt (Williams 2000, p.101-102).

Unfortunately, the ‘hinayana’ confusion has been given a further twist as Buddhism has established itself within the West. The term is often taken at face value and inappropriately used in books and web sites, for example:

Of the three Buddhist vehicles (yana) of practice, the first is the Hinayana. Hinayana literally means lesser vehicle but this term should in no way be a reproach or be construed to diminish the importance of these teachings. ... If it weren’t for these teachings, which are particularly appropriate for those who have limited wisdom or diligence, many persons would never been able to travel the Mahayana path.
...
The fundamental teachings of the Hinayana are the main subject matter of the first dharmachakra or turning of the wheel of dharma. … The main subject matter of these teachings is the four noble truths (along with the teachings on interdependent origination, selflessness, impermanence, etc.)

So, in spite of statements that the term is not pejorative, we see hinayana identified with the whole of the teachings of the Pali Canon and intended for those who are of limited wisdom or diligence.

In the following example, also from a web site, we find an explicit equivalence made between hinayana and Theravada:

Shakymuni taught many teachings on the way to teaching the Lotus Sutra. After he died Buddhism took different forms as it spread. It spread in two main forms, the Theravada (or Hinayana - 'lesser vehicle') and the Mahayana ('greater vehicle'), and traveled into China along the commercial Silk Route.

Although modern Theravada evolved from an early school or schools, it only settled into its current form around 500 CE, well after the ‘hinayana’ term first appeared.

Alternative terms for the various concepts confused in ‘hinayana’ have been discussed for several years. Katz considers using the term '´Sravakayana' for non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism, since this form emphasises Arahatship as the highest goal, (although there is a Bodhisatta path with an aspiration for Buddhahood).

Many now prefer to talk of 'Mainstream' Buddhism for non-Mahayana forms (Strong p.88-89, Gethin p 4-5, and Williams, 2000, p.255-6, note 2.) Further alternatives are to talk of geographic varieties as in Southern, Northern and Eastern Buddhism, or to consider early, middle and later Buddhism, either from a historical, or doctrinal perspective.

In summary, modern scholarship indicates that the term ‘hinayana’ cannot be linked with any early or modern Buddhist tradition, but was a general term of abuse used to defend the message contained in some new sūtras. No ancient or modern tradition has ever regarded itself as the ’inferior or contemptible path’, and the term has no place as a general description of Buddhist practice today.

There are many alternative terms that more accurately describe early or contemporary Buddhist teachings and motivations and which avoid confusion and possible offence. No sincere Buddhist would profess to following 'an inferior path', and no polite Buddhist would say this of a fellow practitioner.

It has been said that perhaps the followers of the mysterious hinayana were those who originally coined the term ‘hinayana’!