Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Noun: Hinayana  ,hi-nu'yaa-nu or ,hee-nu'yaa-nu
  1. A major school of Buddhism teaching personal salvation through one's own efforts
     
  2. An offensive name for the early conservative Theravada Buddhism; it died out in India but survived in Sri Lanka and was taken from there to other regions of southwestern Asia
    - Hinayana Buddhism

Type of: Buddhism, Theravada, Theravada Buddhism

Encyclopedia: Hinayana