Editing Hinayana (section)

==Etymology==
The word ''hīnayāna'' is formed of ''hīna'':<ref>{{Cite web | title= Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit | url= http://www.spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=DI&beginning=0+&tinput=hina+&trans=Translate&direction=AU | access-date=2010-06-29}}</ref> "little", "poor", "inferior", "abandoned", "deficient", "defective"; and ''yāna'' (यान):<ref>{{Cite web | title= Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit | url= http://www.spokensanskrit.de/index.php?script=DI&tinput=yaana&country_ID=&trans=Translate&direction=AU | access-date=2009-04-15}}</ref> "vehicle", where "vehicle" or "path" what means "a way of going to enlightenment". The Pali Text Society's ''Pali-English Dictionary'' (1921–25) defines ''hīna'' in even stronger terms, with a semantic field that includes "poor, miserable; vile, base, abject, contemptible", and "despicable".

The term was translated by [[Kumārajīva]] and others into [[Classical Chinese]] as "small vehicle" (小 meaning "small", 乘 meaning "vehicle"), although earlier and more accurate translations of the term also exist. In Mongolian (''Baga Holgon'') the term for hinayana also means "small" or "lesser" vehicle or better called path,<ref>"It is also certain that Buddhist groups and individuals in [[China]] (including [[Tibet]]), [[Korea]], [[Vietnam]], and [[Japan]] have in the past, as in the very recent present, identified themselves as Mahayana Buddhists, even if the polemical or value claim embedded in that term was only dimly felt, if at all.", ''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism'', 2004, page 492</ref> while in Tibetan there are at least two words to designate the term, ''theg chung'' meaning "small vehicle"<ref>{{cite web |url= http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/theg_chung |title=Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary:theg chung |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=[[Rangjung Yeshe Wiki]] |publisher=Tsadra Foundation }}</ref> and ''theg dman'' meaning "inferior vehicle" or "inferior spiritual approach".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/theg_dman |title=Rangjung Yeshe Wiki - Dharma Dictionary:theg dman |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=[[Rangjung Yeshe Wiki]] |publisher=Tsadra Foundation }}</ref>

[[Thrangu Rinpoche]] has emphasized that ''hinayana'' is in no way implying "inferior". In his translation and commentary of [[Asanga]]'s ''Distinguishing Dharma from Dharmata'', he writes, "all three traditions of hinayana, mahayana, and [[vajrayana]] were practiced in Tibet and that the hinayana which literally means "lesser vehicle" is in no way inferior to the mahayana."{{sfn|Rinpoche|2004|p=113}}

According to the [[World Fellowship of Buddhists]], the term Hīnayāna should not be used to refer to any extant form of Buddhism.<!-- 1950 statement -->{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}