Without further ado, feel free to explore the Free Theravada Buddhist Teachings and Resources listed below. One element of this conservatism is the fact that Theravāda rejects the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras. In contrast to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine (pariyatti) and monastic discipline (vinaya). The Pāli Canon is the most complete Buddhist canon surviving in a classical Indian language, Pāli, which serves as the school’s sacred language and lingua franca. Theravada is also a branch of Buddhism that draws its doctrine from the Pāli Canon, one of the oldest surviving records of the Buddha’s teachings. It is sometimes called ‘Southern Buddhism’. Theravada Buddhism is strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and the Mekong Delta areas of Vietnam. Regarded as the belief closest to the one taught by The Buddha himself, it is based on the recollections of The Buddha’s teachings amassed by the Elders-the elder monks who were Buddha’s companions. Theravada Buddhism (“doctrine of the elders”) is the oldest and most orthodox of Buddhism’s three major sects. Theravada practitioners believe that their version of the scripture is the oldest and most closely aligned to the Buddha’s teachings. Buddhism has two main traditions practiced by believers, Mahayana and Theravada, with Theravada being the more conservative of the two.
