Do not use the term Hinayana?

hermitwin

I just realised that the word 'hina' is a derogatory term that
means lowly or contemptible.
In fact one translation of hina is 'derogatory'.

Malachy12

I had heard that it wasn't a very nice word. After you said this I tried looking it up and found this.

http://vedabase.net/h/hina

Vajraheart

It means smaller, it's the opposite of maha which means larger or greater. It can be used derogatorily within context. But it's not used as such within scriptural texts of the Mahayana, at least not in origin. It just means one is working for ones own enlightenment without the idea of doing it for everyone. Hinayana does not exist as a path anymore. Theravada has the concept of bodhisattas so is not a Hinayana path.

Cloud

Everything is relative; this versus that. When a newer form of Buddhism came along, it was perceived by its followers as being better than the old forms (which is natural). The new form called itself Mahayana (Great/Greater Vehicle) and so referred to other forms as Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle), which specifically meant any school that does not adhere to the Mahayana sutras.

The Theravada school is often the target of this word, though it never referred to itself as Hinayana and never deemed itself to be Lesser, and so the term "hinayana" carries derogatory connotations that are unseemly and particularly un-Buddhist to perpetuate on any public forum that serves all traditions equally without prejudice.

IMHO referring to any existing tradition or its followers as "hinayana" is like a white man referring to "the blacks". Not as over-the-line as the N-word, but near enough to be offensive in public and shunned in polite conversation. We like polite conversation here at NewBuddhist, so let's all guard our speech so as not to seem ignorant.

Thank you.