The Buddhist traditions
Theravada
The Way of the Elders: the Pali canon, monks and merit, in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
What it is
Theravada (the teaching of the elders) is the form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and most of mainland Southeast Asia. It treats the Pali canon as the word of the Buddha and follows the commentarial tradition shaped by Buddhaghosa in the fifth century AD. The ideal is the arahant, who reaches nibbana by following the path. Lay people support monks and make merit by giving, keeping precepts and meditating.
Our response
Theravada is honest about what the early texts teach: no Creator, no saviour, salvation by one's own effort. That honesty makes the contrast with the gospel very clear. The Bible's message to the merit-maker is that God gives freely what cannot be earned.
8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, that no one would boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (WEB) · context
4Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed. 5But to him who doesn’t work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
Romans 4:4-5 (WEB) · context
Sources
- Richard Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo (2nd ed., Routledge, 2006).