Early Buddhism In
early Buddhism, a śrāvaka or śrāvikā is a disciple who accepts: • the
Buddha as their teacher • the Buddha's teaching (the
Dharma), including understanding the
Four Noble Truths, ridding oneself of the
unreality of the phenomenal, and pursuing
nirvana. See, for instance, the
Anguttara Nikayas second
Metta Sutta (AN 4.126) when, taken in consideration of the first "Metta Sutta" (AN 4.125), a disciple is described as one who "regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self." • the community rules of conduct: the
Five Precepts for laypersons, the
prātimokṣa for monastics. In the
Nikāya, depending on the context, a sāvaka can also refer to a disciple of a teacher other than the Buddha.
Theravada Buddhism In Theravada Buddhism, a śrāvaka or śrāvikāt refers to one who followed in the tradition of the senior monks of the first Buddhist sangha and community. In the
Pāli Canon, the term "disciple" transcends monastic-lay divisions and can refer to anyone from the following "four assemblies": •
bhikkhus ("monks") • bhikkhuni|s ("nuns") •
upāsakas and upāsikā (laypersons of both sexes)
Buddhist texts further mention four types of disciples based on spiritual accomplishment: • "Chief Disciple" (Pāli:
aggasāvaka; Sanskrit:
agraśrāvaka): in the Pali canon, these are
Sāriputta and
(Mahā)moggallāna • "Foremost Disciple" (Pāli:
etadaggasāvaka; Sanskrit:
etadagraśrāvaka): referring to those disciples who are recognized as the best in their respective attribute • "Great Disciple" (Pāli:
mahāsāvaka; Sanskrit:
mahāśrāvaka): examples are
Mahākassapa,
Ānanda,
Anuruddha and Mahākaccāna. • "Ordinary Disciple" (Pāli:
pakatisāvaka; Sanskrit: ''''): constituting the majority of disciples, while devoted to the Buddha and his teaching and while having planted seeds for future liberation, they have not yet irreversibly entered the path to emancipation and are still subject to infinite rebirths.
Ariyasāvaka In the Pali commentaries, the term
ariyasāvaka is explained as "the disciple of the Noble One (i.e. Buddha)". Accordingly,
Soma Thera and
Thanissaro Bhikkhu translate this term as "The disciple of the Noble Ones" However Bhikkhu Bodhi interprets this term as "noble disciple", and according to him, in the Pali suttas, this term is used in two ways: • broadly: any lay disciple of the Buddha; • narrowly: one who is at least on the path to
enlightenment (Pāli:
sotāpatti maggattha). In this sense, "ordinary people" (
puthujjana) can be contrasted with this narrow definition of "noble disciple" (
ariyasāvaka).
Nyanatiloka writes, "sāvaka [...] refers, in a restricted sense (then mostly ariya-sāvaka, 'noble disciple'), only to the eight kinds of noble disciples (ariya-puggala, q.v.)." The canon occasionally references the "four pairs" and "eight types" of disciples. This refers to disciples who have achieved one of the
four stages of enlightenment: •
Sotāpanna •
Sakadāgāmin •
Anāgāmin •
Arahat In regards to disciples achieving arahantship,
Bhikkhu Bodhi writes: For each of these stages, there is a "pair" of possible disciples: one who is on the stage's path (Pāli:
magga); the other who has achieved its fruit (Pāli:
phala). Thus, each stage represents a "pair" of individuals: the path traveler (Pāli:
maggattha) and the fruit achiever (Pāli:
phalattha). Hence, the community of disciples is said to be composed of four pairs or eight types of individuals (Pāli:
cattāri purisayugāni attha purisapuggalā).
Foremost disciples In the "Etadaggavagga" ("These are the Foremost Chapter,"
AN 1.188-267), the Buddha identifies 80 different categories for his "foremost" (Pāli:
etadagga) disciples: 47 categories for monks, 13 for nuns, ten for laymen and ten for laywomen. While the disciples identified with these categories are declared to be the Buddha's "foremost" or "chief" (Pāli:
etadagga), this is different from his "Chief Disciples" (Pāli:
aggasāvaka) who are consistently identified solely as Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna. In addition, in SN 17.23, SN 17.24 and AN 4.18.6, the Buddha identifies four pairs of disciples "who have no compare" and who should thus be emulated. These four pairs are a subset of the 80 foremost disciples listed above, identified in the sub-section 14 of AN 1 (i.e. AN 1.188-267). These four pairs of disciples to be most emulated are: • monks: Sāriputta and Mahāmoggallāna • nuns: Khemā and Uppalavaṇṇā • laymen:
Citta and
Hatthaka of Alavi • laywomen: Kujjuttara and
Veḷukaṇḍakiyā The community of disciples In Buddhism, there are two main communities (Pāli:
sangha): • The "community of monks and nuns" (Pāli:
bhikkhu-sangha;
bhikkhuni-sangha) refers to a community of four or more monks or nuns who are living in a permanent or semi-permanent single-sex community (in the contemporary West monks and nuns may live within the same monastery but in separate living quarters). Within this community of monks and nuns there is a further sub-division containing practitioners (who are nonetheless still living among their fellow renunciates) possessed of some substantive level of realization (namely, those who have at least gained
stream-entry). This core group is called the "noble sangha" (
ariya-sangha). • The "community of disciples" (Pāli:
sāvaka-sangha) refers to the broad community of
monks,
nuns, and
male and
female layfollowers. For an example of a traditional stock reference to the
sāvaka-sangha in the Pali canon, in "The Crest of the Standard" discourse (
SN 11.3), the Buddha advises his monks that, if they experience fear, they can
recollect the Buddha or the Dhamma or the Sangha; and, in recollecting the Sangha they should recall: : "The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples [
sāvaka-sangha] is practising the good way, practising the straight way, practising the true way, practising the proper way; that is, the four pairs of persons, the eight types of individuals...." A similar phrase can also be found in the lay disciple's daily
chant, "Sangha Vandanā" ("Salutation to the Sangha").
Mahāyāna view In
Mahayana Buddhism, śrāvakas or
arhats are sometimes contrasted negatively with
bodhisattvas. In the 4th century
abhidharma work
Abhidharmasamuccaya,
Asaṅga describes those who follow the
Śrāvakayāna. These people are described as having weak faculties, following the Śrāvaka Dharma, utilizing the Śrāvaka Piṭaka, being set on their own liberation, and cultivating detachment in order to attain liberation. Those in the
Pratyekabuddhayāna are portrayed as also utilizing the Śrāvaka Piṭaka, are said to have medium faculties, to follow the Pratyekabuddha Dharma, and to be set on their own personal enlightenment. Finally, those in the Mahāyāna "Great Vehicle" are portrayed as utilizing the
Bodhisattva Piṭaka, as having sharp faculties, following the Bodhisattva Dharma, and set on the perfection and liberation of all beings, and the attainment of complete enlightenment. According to Vasubandhu's
Yogacara teachings, there are four types of śrāvakas: • The fixed • The arrogant • The transformed • The converted (to "Bodhi" or Buddhism) The transformed and the converted (Buddhist) are assured of eventual Nirvana in the
Lotus Sutra. According to
Je Tsongkhapa, founder of the
Gelug school of
Tibetan Buddhism: == Jainism ==