The Elder’s Teaching

The oldest surviving
Buddhist school

ສາຂາສາສະໜາພຸດທີ່ເກົ່າແກ່ທີ່ສຸດ ທີ່ຍັງດຳລົງຢູ່

The word Theravāda (ເຖຣະວາດ) comes from two Pāli words: thera (elder, senior monk) and vāda (teaching, doctrine). Together they mean the Teaching of the Elders — the claim that this school preserves the original, unaltered teachings of the Buddha as transmitted by his senior disciples.

It is the oldest surviving school of Buddhism in the world. Its scriptures — the Pāli Canon — are the most complete early Buddhist canon in existence. Its monastic code — the Vinaya — has been observed continuously for over 2,500 years. And its meditation practices, including Vipassanā, have influenced modern psychology, medicine, and mindfulness culture worldwide.

How Theravāda developed

ເຖຣະວາດ ພັດທະນາມາແນວໃດ

After the Buddha’s passing (Parinibbāna) around 483 BCE, his teachings were preserved orally by his disciples and transmitted from teacher to student across generations. About 100 years later, disagreements arose about how to interpret certain rules — leading to the First Buddhist Schism, in which the Theravāda school separated from other early schools by insisting on strict adherence to the original teachings as remembered by the elders.

Around the 3rd century BCE, the Indian emperor Ashoka (ອາໂສກ) — one of history’s greatest champions of Buddhism — sent his son Mahinda as a missionary to Sri Lanka. Mahinda carried the Theravāda texts and traditions with him, and Sri Lanka became the primary custodian of the Theravāda canon. From there, it spread to Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and eventually to Laos — where it arrived around the 7th to 14th centuries and became the official religion of the Lane Xang kingdom.

What makes Theravāda distinctive

ຫຍັງທີ່ເຮັດໃຫ້ເຖຣະວາດ ເປັນເອກະລັກ

• 1
  Strict adherence to the Pāli Canonຍຶດໝັ້ນຕາມພຣະໄຕປິດົກTheravāda regards only the Pāli Canon as authoritative scripture — the recorded words of the historical Buddha and his direct disciples. No later texts (like those of Mahāyāna) are accepted as the Buddha’s word.
• 2
  The ideal of the ArahantອຸດົມຄະຕິຂອງພຣະອາລຫັນIn Theravāda, the highest spiritual ideal is the Arahant — a being who has completely uprooted craving and attained Nibbāna. This contrasts with Mahāyāna’s ideal of the Bodhisattva, who delays liberation to serve all beings.
• 3
  The centrality of the VinayaຄວາມສຳຄັນຂອງວິໄນThe monastic code — 227 rules for monks — is observed with great care and seriousness. The Sangha (monastic community) is regarded as the living guardian of the tradition.
• 4
  Pāli as the sacred languageພາສາບາລີ ເປັນພາສາສັກສິດAll canonical scripture is preserved in Pāli — the closest approximation to the language the Buddha spoke. Chanting in Pāli is central to every Theravāda ceremony, including all Lao Buddhist temple rituals.
• 5
  Vipassanā meditationການສະມາທິ ວິປັດສະນາInsight meditation — direct investigation of the nature of mind and experience — is the primary meditation practice. It is now practiced worldwide, largely in the form introduced to the West through Theravāda teachers.