Everything You Need to Know about Theravada Buddhism

One of the oldest religions in the world, Buddhism is still practiced by more than 500 million people, making it the fourth most popular religion worldwide. Buddhist teachings, also known in Sanskrit as Buddhadharma, began to gain momentum in fifth century BCE India and eventually spread to Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Like other religions, the way in which people practice Buddhism differs around the world, although most variations fall into one of the following three main branches: Mahayana, Vajrayana, and Theravada.

Each of these branches are also known as Buddhism schools or “vehicles,” as they represent different methods of transporting practitioners over the ocean of samsara (literally “wandering,” or the continuous cycle of death and rebirth) to achieve enlightenment. Below is a closer look at Theravada, the oldest school of Buddhism.

Beginnings in Sri Lanka

Also known as the “way of the elders,” Theravada Buddhism developed in Sri Lanka based on the Buddhist teachings of traveling monks, scholars, and pilgrims. This strain of Buddhism provided a cosmic framework for kings to rule, with monks serving as advisers to monarchs, and eventually grew to become the dominant religious system in parts of Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Most notably, Sri Lanka is where the Pāli canon developed. These texts feature some of the oldest written records of the Buddha’s teachings.

The Centrality of the Pāli Canon

The Pāli canon is the main text for Theravada Buddhism and the only complete surviving Buddhist canon written in a classical Indian language. The school’s followers, known as Theravādins, believe the text has the official teachings of the Gautama Buddha and, thus, more strictly adhere to matters of doctrine and monastic discipline compared to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhists.

The Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka are the three main parts of the Pāli canon. The Sutta Pitaka details the Buddha’s teachings through poetry and stories, while the Vinaya Pitaka details discussions and stories involving the rules of monks. The Abhidhamma Pitaka provides an overview of the metaphysical and philosophical meaning of Buddhist concepts and lessons. Much of the text in the Pāli canon was recorded not long after the Buddha’s death and passed down from memory until put into written word by the first century BCE.

Core Practices

There are three main categories of essential practices in Theravada Buddhism: the cultivation of wisdom (panna), concentration (samadhi), and ethical conduct (sila). These categories, described in the Buddha’s noble eightfold path, include core practices such as performing generous acts, meditating, and chanting.

By cultivating generosity, practitioners learn to focus less on themselves and their concerns and instead lead a value-driven lifestyle. Meditation is largely informed by the Pāli canon, although it wasn’t popular among the laity until Theravada revival movements in Southeast Asian countries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most practitioners strive to develop anapanasati (mindfulness of the breath). Chants, meanwhile, help prepare practitioners for medication and are important components of daily practice, particularly in meditation centers and monasteries.

Ethical conduct, finally, is instrumental toward improving the quality of practitioners’ character and believed to be a gateway to the journey of awakening. The starting point for ethical behavior involves committing to the first five precepts: abstain from killing, abstain from taking what is not given, refrain from sexual misconduct, abstain from false and harmful speech, and refrain from intoxicants.

Diverse Traditions in Different Countries

Today, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos have the largest concentration of Theravada Buddhists. However, not all practitioners in these countries adhere to the same practices and traditions. In Cambodia, Theravada Buddhism is tied to magical and supernatural elements, while in Myanmar adherents are known for popularizing insight meditation, also known as vipassana. Lao Buddhism emphasizes a connection to the spiritual world, and Thai Buddhists tend to adhere most closely to the Theravada orthodox tradition.

Theravada in the West

Today, Vipassana is an increasingly popular meditation tradition in the Western world. Theravada Buddhism, meanwhile, started gaining momentum outside of Asia when English scholar Thomas William Rhys Davids, in 1881, created the Pali Text Society to translate Pāli texts into English. The Theravada school grew considerably in the U.S. and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s due to the influx of refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Americans Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzburg, and Joseph Goldstein, who studied Vipassana in India under renowned teachers, including S.N. Goenka and Dipa Ma, created the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts in 1975. This sparked a movement that further popularized Theravada Buddhism in the US.

Must-Read Books on the School

There are many great books that offer further detail on Theravada Buddhism. These include The Theravada Abhidhamma: Inquiry into the Nature of Reality (Y. Karunadasa), The Buddhist Schools of the Small Vehicle (André Bareau), and Selfless Persons: Image and Thought in Theravada Buddhism (Steven Collins), the latter of which covers the Buddhist doctrine of annattá (not-self) and how it relates to personal identity and Buddhist culture and imagination.