THERVADA(TEACHING OF ELDERS)
Spread : Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand.
May be called as the most orthodox school of Buddhism.
The philosophy of this school
1. admits the human characteristics of the Buddha characterised by a psychological understanding of human nature; and emphasises a meditative approach to the transformation of consciousness.
2. 'abstain from all kinds of evil, to accumulate all that is good and to purify our mind'. These can be accomplished by The Three Trainings: the development of ethical conduct, meditation and insight-wisdom
3. all worldly phenomena are subject to three characteristics - they are impermanent, unsatisfactoryand transient; and there is nothing in them which can be called one's own, nothing substantial, nothing permanent.
4. All compounded things are made up of two elements - the non-material part and the material part. They are further described as consisting of nothing but five constituent groups, namely the material quality, and the four non-material qualities - sensations, perception, mental formatives and consciousness. When that perfected state of insight is reached, i.e. Nibanna, that person is a 'worthy person' an Arhat.
5. The life of the Arhat is the ideal of the followers of this school, a life where all (future) birth is at an end, where the holy life is fully achieved, where all that has to be done has been done, and there is no more returning to the worldly life'
