Hinayana
This
is the first of the two great councils of
Buddhist orders, occurring soon after
Buddha's death. It was called Theravada
(Teaching of the Elders) , and posited a
dynamic phenomenalism. It said that every
thing in the world, gods as well as souls of
living beings, were changing all the
time. When men try to resist this perpetual
flux, they come by sorrow. About a hundred
years after Buddha's death, the sect of
Mahasanghikas ( the Great Order)broke away
from the traditional Buddhist order. They
contemptuously called it Hinayana (Smaller
Chariot) and called themselves Mahayana
(Bigger Chariot).

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