The History of Buddhist Thought c22.3

c22.3

These works, which teach the “ great career ” (mahāyāna), are opposed to the “ hearer’s ” or disciple’s career (śrāvaka-yāna) and the pratyekabuddha’s career. This last is not important except as being one of the possible means of winning enlightenment recognized by the older teaching. The disciple’s career is that which aims at attaining arahatship and winning Nirvāṇa as in all the older schools, and these are usually grouped together and referred to as Hīnayāna. This is a term which has become popularized as the translation of a phrase used by the Chinese pilgrims, who seem to have known it as a convenient name for all schools which were not Mahāyāna. But this is not the way the term is used in the Sanskrit texts. The texts when referring to definite schools always speak of śrāvaka-yāna and pratyekabuddha-yāna, but hīnayāna, which very rarely occurs, is used generally for “ low or base career ”.¹ “Career” is *yāna*. This was first pointed out by Dr. Dasgupta.¹ There is no reason to translate it “vehicle”, merely because Burnouf did so nearly a century ago. The three careers happen to be mentioned in a simile of three chariots in chapter 3 of the *Lotus*, but as vehicles they are not called *yāna* but *ratha*, chariots.