Key Terms/Hīnayāna
From Bodhicitta
हीनयान Hīnayāna
Lesser Vehicle
ཐེག་དམན།
theg dman
小乘
xiǎo chéng
Sanskrit - Noun
1·Discover
Basic Meaning
The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion.
2·Explore
Has the sense of
The term was used mainly by the proponents of the Greater Vehicle, who considered the goals, understanding, practices, methods, and results of this school as being lesser in scope.
In other languages
Tibetan
ཐེག་དམན།
theg dman
thekmen
Sanskrit
हीनयान
Hīnayāna
Chinese
小乘
xiǎo chéng
How translators render it
Lesser VehicleBuddha-nature Standard, Jeffrey Hopkins
lesser/individual vehicleIves Waldo
In the dictionaries
Term type
Noun
Source language
Sanskrit
Topic
Hīnayāna
Alternate spellings
theg pa dman pa
Related terms
