What is Theravada Buddhism?
Theravada Buddhism gives the Maha Sangha (Monks) or the Bhikkus as they are also called, great veneration, as those treading the path to liberatuion from suffering, founded by Gauthama the Buddha.
Theravada Buddhism also called the “Doctrine of the Elders” is the oldest and most orthodox of Buddhism’s three major sects. Regarded as closest to what Buddha himself diseminated, this school of observance is based on the recollections of the Buddha’s teachings passed down in succession by the Senior monks of the Buddha’s time itself. Theravada Buddhism is strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (former Burma) and the Mekong Delta regions of Vietnam: hence, It is sometimes called ‘Southern Buddhism’.Theravada Buddhism stresses spirituality, the enlightenment of the individual, self-discipline, the importance or pure thought and deed, the importance of the monastic life and the strict observance of the ancient ethics enshrined in Vinaya Pitaka (code of ethics or conduct) There are distinct roles assigned for monks and lay people respectively, with emphazis that each individual is responsible for his or her liberation from the cycle of recurring existence. Theravada Buddhism stresses that it has remained closest to the original teachings of the Buddha.
Theravada Buddhism was one of 18 schools that existed in centuries after The Buddha’s death. It spread from India to Sri Lanka and then to Southeast Asia and remained close to the original Tripitaka Pali Canon. The other 17 schools disappeared when Muslim invadors swept into Northern India and destroyed the Buddhist monasteries, including the great international Buddhist University group alliend to Nalanda that existed in the country’s Uththar Pradesh. The original doctrine is enshrined in the series of “Pitakas” or Volumes known as “Tripitaka”, which, of course is followed by the other sectors, Mahayana, Thantrayana and even Zen Buddhism in principal, with their different cultural approach to observation and follow the path.