Key Terms/Triyāna
Basic Meaning
Commonly seen in a Mahāyāna context, the three vehicles are the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna, which reference the three different types of Buddhist practitioners. However, these three vehicles can also reference the three types of Buddhist teachings of the Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna (or Pāramitāyāna), and the Vajrayāna.
Has the sense of
Three ways of arriving at enlightenment or traversing the path.
The ultimate goal of the Śrāvakayāna is the state of an arhat, while the ultimate goal of the Bodhisattvayāna is buddhahood.
See page 926: In Sanskrit, “three vehicles,” three different means taught in Buddhist soteriological literature of conveying sentient beings to liberation.
nyan thos kyi theg pa/ rang rgyal gyi theg pa/ byang sems kyi theg pa ste gsum/
