What is Theravada Buddhism?

Theravada is one of the main branches of Buddhism. The name is Pali (theravāda) and means "the teaching of the elders". Today it is the main tradition in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and it has communities around the world, including in Australia.

The texts it relies on

Theravada takes as its scripture the Pali Canon, a large collection of the Buddha's discourses, the monastic rules and later analytical works. The texts were preserved orally for centuries and, by tradition, first written down in Sri Lanka in the first century BCE. Pali is a language close to the ones spoken in northern India in the Buddha's time.

Theravada teachers tend to stay close to these early texts. They also draw on commentaries, especially those of Buddhaghosa, a scholar who worked in Sri Lanka in the fifth century CE.

Main teachings

The core teachings are shared with all Buddhist traditions: the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, karma and rebirth, and the three characteristics of impermanence, suffering and not-self. The goal is nirvana, the end of greed, hatred and delusion. A person who reaches it is called an arahant, a "worthy one".

Meditation has two broad strands. Calm, or samatha, settles and unifies the mind. Insight, or vipassanā, looks clearly at experience as it arises and passes. Many modern mindfulness approaches grew out of Theravada insight teachers in Myanmar and Thailand.

Monks, nuns and lay people

The monastic community, the Sangha, is central. Monks keep the full set of monastic rules, live on what lay people offer, and traditionally walk an alms round each morning. Lay people support the monasteries with food and gifts, keep the five precepts, and often keep extra precepts on observance days.

Full ordination for women died out in Theravada countries many centuries ago. In recent decades it has been revived in some places, while in others women live as renunciants under eight or ten precepts. This remains a debated question within the tradition.

Theravada in daily life

For many families, Theravada is woven into ordinary life: visiting the temple, offering food to monks, chanting in Pali, and marking festivals such as Vesak. For others, the main door in is meditation. Both are part of the same tradition.