Home›Buddhism›All BuddhismBrowse ByAll BuddhismThe major vehicles and schools of Buddhism, which agree on the Buddha, the four noble truths and the path, and differ over the ideal of the practitioner, the status of the Buddha, which scriptures are authoritative and how enlightenment is reached. The divisions are geographic as well as doctrinal, each vehicle having taken its own route out of India.FactsLearn MoreAll BuddhismSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe vehicles and schools of Buddhism, distinguished by which scriptures are authoritative, by the ideal held out to the practitioner, by the status accorded the Buddha and by the means to awakening - and geographically, each vehicle having taken its own route out of India. 2OriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedThe three-vehicle scheme is a Mahayana classification of Buddhism, not a neutral one: Hinayana, the lesser vehicle, is a polemical term for a set of schools that never used it of themselves and whose surviving representative calls itself Theravada. 3DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedDenominations 1Learn MoreThe schools of Buddhism This group holds the major traditions and schools of Buddhism, which spread from its Indian origin across Asia and adapted deeply to each culture it entered. Rather than denominations in the Christian sense, these are lineages and vehicles distinguished by canon, practice and philosophical emphasis. The browser will find the three great vehicles (Theravada, the older tradition of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia; Mahayana, the broad northern tradition with its bodhisattva ideal; and Vajrayana, the tantric path prominent in Tibet), together with their many schools, such as Zen, Pure Land, Tiantai, Nichiren and the Tibetan orders. The entries describe each school's texts, practices and lineage.All BuddhismFilter Results28 entriesFounded ByAllEn no Gyoja (1)Jinul (1)Nichiren (1)Niwano Nikkyo (1)Zhiyi (1)Origin EraAll250 BCE (1)100 BCE (1)150 (1)400 (1)500 (1)538 (1)600 (1)700 (1)750 (1)755 (1)805 (1)806 (1)1050 (1)1073 (1)1100 (1)1191 (1)1224 (1)1227 (1)1253 (1)1290 (1)1294 (1)1409 (1)1930 (1)1938 (1)Establishment StatusAllPrivileged Never Established (1)Varies by Province (1)Parent ReligionAllBuddhism (23)Originated InAllChina (2)Indian Subcontinent (1)Japan (7)Tibet (7)Liturgical LanguageAllClassical Chinese (read in Sino-Japanese where used in Japan) (13)Classical Tibetan (8)Pali (1)Sanskrit (4)The vernacular (1)Sexuality PositionAllSame-sex marriage is performed and LGBT clergy are ordained on equal terms with heterosexual clergy (1)PolityAllA head temple over affiliated branch temples (9)A single central governing body over the whole movement (2)Authority in recognised reincarnate lineages (7)Authority through monastic ordination lineage and its seats (8)Autonomous local bodies under a national umbrella association (1)No central authority (4)Priestly office passing by descent (2)Practice StatusAllLiving tradition, practised today (23)Revived or reconstructed in the modern era (2)Ordination PracticeAllA full female ordination lineage continues (1)An unpaid lay ministry rather than a professional clergy (1)Celibacy required of the ordained (5)Married clergy permitted (9)Non-celibate tantric practitioners alongside monastics (3)Office passes by descent (2)Open to women and men (2)Ordination is into a monastic order, not to a congregation (19)Restricted to men (1)The full female ordination lineage is held lapsed; revival contested (3)Varies between provinces or member bodies (1)Parent DenominationAllKagyu (1)Mahayana (3)Tibetan Buddhism (5)Vajrayana (2)BrowseCompareSelect all 28GelugBuddhismJodo ShinshuBuddhismJogye OrderBuddhismJonangBuddhismKagyuBuddhismKarma KagyuBuddhismMadhyamakaBuddhismMahayanaBuddhismNichirenBuddhismNichiren ShoshuBuddhismNichiren ShuBuddhismNyingmaBuddhismPure LandBuddhismRinzaiBuddhismRissho Kosei KaiBuddhismSakyaBuddhismShingonBuddhismShugendoBuddhismSoka GakkaiBuddhismSotoBuddhismTaego OrderBuddhismTendaiBuddhismThai Forest TraditionBuddhismTheravadaBuddhismTiantaiBuddhismTibetan BuddhismBuddhismVajrayanaBuddhismZenBuddhismSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, 2nd editiontier 1Peter Harvey, Cambridge University Press, 2013View the Source3. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhismtier 1Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., Princeton University Press, 2014s.v. HinayanaView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.