小乘

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Chinese

small; tiny; few
small; tiny; few; young
 
ride; mount; make use of
ride; mount; make use of; take advantage of; multiply; to avail of; to ride
 
trad. (小乘)
simp. #(小乘)
Literally:small vehicle”.

Etymology

Calque of Sanskrit हीनयान (hīnayāna, lesser vehicle).

Pronunciation



Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1 2/2
Initial () (16) (27)
Final () (91) (133)
Tone (調) Rising (X) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () III III
Fanqie
Baxter sjewX zyingH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/siᴇuX/ /ʑɨŋH/
Pan
Wuyun
/siɛuX/ /ʑɨŋH/
Shao
Rongfen
/sjæuX/ /ʑieŋH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/siawX/ /ʑiŋH/
Li
Rong
/siɛuX/ /d͡ʑiəŋH/
Wang
Li
/sĭɛuX/ /d͡ʑĭəŋH/
Bernard
Karlgren
/si̯ɛuX/ /d͡ʑʰi̯əŋH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
xiǎo shèng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
siu2 sing6

Noun

小乘

  1. (Buddhism, originally derogatory, now usually neutral) Hinayana (early Buddhism; Theravada Buddhism)

Usage notes

  • This term is applied by some Mahayana Buddhists, but is not accepted as proper by Theravada Buddhists.
  • In 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists declared that this term should not be used when referring to any form of Buddhism existing today.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

  • 大乘 (Dàchéng, “Mahayana”)

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (小乘):

See also

References

Further reading