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The term Nikāya Buddhism was invented by Mahayanist scholarsRobert Thurman and Professor Masatoshi Nagatomi of Harvard University: ''"Nikaya Buddhism" is a coinage of Professor Masatoshi Nagatomi of Harvard University who suggested it to me as a usage for the eighteen schools of pre-Mahayana Indian Buddhism, to avoid the term "Hinayana Buddhism," which is found offensive by some members of the Theravada tradition''. Robert Thurman, in The Emptiness That is Compassion (footnote 10), 1980., in order to find a more acceptable (less derogatory) term for , Vinayapitaka and (possibly) an Abhidhammapitaka . These schools of Buddhism do not recognize or accept the Mahayana Sutras as the word of Buddha. Examples of these schools are Pre-sectarian Buddhism , the Early Buddhist Schools , and any possible other schools or views in which the historical Tipitaka represents the scripture with the highest authority. Some scholars use the term exclusively of pre-sectarian Buddhism. The most famous example of these historical Tipitaka texts is the Pali Canon . Other scriptures which correspond to these are the Agamas and some of the Gandharan Buddhist Texts . Hinayana or Nikāya Buddhism is distinguished from the Buddhism of the various Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna schools, which accept the authenticity of a range of other scriptures as spoken by Buddha (mainly the Mahayana Sutras ). Many of the sutras corresponding to those of the Pāli Canon are accepted by every school. Historically, there were many 'Nikāya schools', but only one still exists today in (close to) its original form: the Theravāda . Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism use the ordination lineages of these schools. There were once at least eighteen Nikāya schools (for a list see Early Buddhist Schools ). HINAYANA AND NIKAYA BUDDHISM Many commentors on Buddhism have used the term Hīnayāna to refer to Nikāya Buddhism. However, that term is now generally seen as flawed:
According to , and their practice. The term Śrāvakayāna (literally, "hearer vehicle" or "disciples' vehicle") is also sometimes used for the same purpose. Note that '' Nikāya '' is also a term used in Theravāda Buddhism to refer to a subschool or subsect within Theravada. Like the term Hinayana Buddhism, the term Nikaya Buddhism focuses on the presumed commonality between the schools, and not on the actual schools themselves. This commonality is thought to be found in a certain attitude. The difference is that in 'Hinayana Buddhism' the common attitude was stated to be a certain 'selfishness', while the term 'Nikaya Buddhism' tries to shift the attention to the more neutral issue of attitude concerning the authenticity of scriptures. SOME DISADVANTAGES OF THE TERM NIKAYA BUDDHISM Some disadvantages of the term Nikaya Buddhism are:
SEE ALSO Early Buddhist Schools REFERENCES |
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