developed faith. The former, based mainly on the Pali texts[FN#2] is
known as Hinayana[FN#3] (small vehicle), or the inferior doctrine;
while the latter, based on the various Sanskrit texts,[4] is known as
Mahayana (large vehicle), or superior doctrine. The chief tenets of
the Southern School are so well known to occidental scholars that
they almost always mean the Southern School by the word Buddhism.
But with regard to the Northern School very little is known to the
West, owing to the fact that most of its original texts were lost,
and that the teachings based on these texts are written in Chinese,
or Tibetan, or Japanese languages unfamiliar to non-Buddhist
investigators.


[FN#1] The Southern School has its adherents in Ceylon, Burma, Siam,
Anan, etc.; while the Northern School is found in Nepal, China,
Japan, Tibet, etc.

[FN#2] They chiefly consist of the Four Nikayas: (1) Digha Nikaya
(Dirghagamas, translated into Chinese by Buddhaya?as, A.D. 412-413);
(2) Majjhima Nikaya (Madhyamagamas, translated into Chinese by
Gautama Sanghadeva, A.D. 397-398); (3) Sanyutta Nikaya
(Samyuktagamas, translated into Chinese by Gunabhadra, of the earlier
Sung dynasty, A.D. 420 479); (4) Anguttara Nikaya (Ekottaragamas,
translated into Chinese by Dharmanandi, A.D. 384-385). Out of these
Hinayana books, the English translation of twenty-three suttas by
Rhys Davids exist in 'Sacred Books of Buddhist,' vols. ii.-iii., and
of seven suttas by the same author in 'Sacred Books of the East,'
vol. xi.

[FN#3] The Southern Buddhists never call their faith Hinayana, the