Yana
- For the Native American Yana tribe see Yana (native American tribe).
Yana is a
Sanskrit word meaning
vehicle and which has been used in a number of schematicizations of the
Buddhist teachings in which there have been one, three, five, six, and nine vehicles.
The one yana
This idea comes from the late Mahayana and refers to teachings contained in texts such as the White Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra which claim to unite all the different teachings into a single great way. Hence they are callled Ekayana which is Sanskrit for 'one vehicle'
The three yanas
Two different schema's of three yanas are used:
Firstly is the three yanas from the point of view of the Mahayana which classified earlier teachings as culminating in the lesser goals of Arahant or Solitary Buddha (Pratyekabuddha), that is an indidividual who achieves liberation, but does not teach other beings.\n*Shravakayana: The Hearer vehicle; practitioners are liberated as Arahants - originally the term Arahant was virtually equivalent to Buddha, but over time it became degraded until it was seen as a distinctly inferior attainment.\n*Pratyekayana: The Solitary vehicle; practitioners are liberated as Pratyeka Buddhas, that is solitary buddhas who do not pass on their insights.\n*Bodhisattvayana: The Boddhisattva vehicle; practitioners are liberated as Buddhas.
A second better known classification came into use with the rise of the Vajrayana, which created a hierarchy of the teachings with the Vajrayana being the highest path. The Vajrayana itself become multilayered especially in Tibetan Buddhism.
In this list each yana is also talked about as a "turning of the wheel" which is a traditional India reference to the teaching of the Dharma. In the
Pali Canon the first teaching is called the
Dhammacakkappavatana Sutta or the
First Turning of the Wheel of the Buddhist Teaching. The Mahayana then styled itself as a second, turning of the wheel, and the Vajrayana a third.
The four yanas
\nThe four yanas are the two different schemes of the three yanas subsumed:\n*Sravakayana\n*Pratyekayana\n*Mahayana\n*
Vajrayana
The five yanas
\nThis is a Mahayana list which is found in East Asian Buddhism.\n*purisayana - the human vehicle. This is the very beginning of the spiritual path\n*devayana - the practice of ethics and meditation\n*Shravakayana - the practice of renunciation and the Four Noble Truths\n*Pratyekayana - practice concerned with dependent arising (pratitya-samutpada)\n*Bodhisattvayana - practice of the six perfections
The six yanas
The five yanas plus the Vajrayana. This schema is associated with Shingon Buddhism in
Japan. It was invented by
Kukai in order to help to differentiate the
Vajrayana teachings that he imported from
China in the early
9th century. Kukai wanted to show that the new teachings were entirely new.
The nine yanas
The Nyingma school of
Tibetan Buddhism has nine yanas, a list made by combining the first type of three yanas, and adding the six classes of tantras.
- Shravakayana\n*Pratyekayana\n*Mahayana\n*Vajrayana (consisting of)\n**Outer Tantras\n**Kryatantra\n**Upatantra (Tibetan spyod rgyud) ‘practice tantra’ and the Ubhayatantra (gnyis ka’i rgyud), ‘dual tantra’, because it practices the view of the next vehicle, Yogatantra, together with the action of the former.\n**Yogatantra\n**Inner Tantras\n**Mahayoga\n**Anuyoga\n**Atiyoga (also Dzog Chen)
The twelve yanas
- Sravakayana \n#Pratyekabuddhayana \n#Bodhisattvayana \n#Kriyayoga \n#Charyayoga, or Upayoga \n#Yogatantra \n#Mahayoga \n#Anuyoga \n#Atiyoga, or Mahasandhiyoga; in Tibetan, Dzogpa Chenpo \n#Semde \n#Longde \n#Mengagde
Western Buddhism : a new yana?
\nThere is some talk that western Buddhism will come to represent a new yana - a new 'turning of the wheel' in Buddhist terminology. However it is probably a little early to tell whether this will be so.
Westerners are increasingly ecumenical, and often eschew the traditional forms of Eastern Buddhism. The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order may be the most radical move in this direction, but other Buddhist groups are questioning whether aspects of Eastern Buddhism are truly Buddhist, or merely conventional and cultural. This type of approach is typified in writing by Stephen Batchelor's book
Buddhism without Belief which argues for a kind of agnostic Buddhism where nothing is accepted "on faith". This is actually close to the Buddha's original message, so far as that can be assertained, but in practice Eastern Buddhists do tend to accept teachings such as
karma and
rebirth as literally true, and without question.
See also:
Buddhist polemics,
Hinayana,
Mahayana,
Vajrayana
External links
