Śrāvaka (Sanskrit) or Sāvaka (Pāli) or Shravaka means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple".

This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain. Thus the term shravaka has been used for the Jain community itself (for example see Sarak and Saraogi).

In Buddhism, the term is sometimes reserved for distinguished disciples of the Buddha.

In Nikaya Buddhism, sāvaka (m.) or sāvikā (f.) is a disciple who accepts:

In Mahayana texts, śrāvakas (or arhats) are sometimes contrasted with bodhisattvas (Sanskrit; Pāli: bodhisatta).

In the Pali canon, the term "disciple" transcends monastic-lay divisions and can refer to anyone from the following "four assemblies":

Buddhist texts further mention three types of disciples based on spiritual accomplishment:

In the traditional Pali commentaries, the Pali term ariya-sāvaka 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"

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, (born 1949) is an American Theravada Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order (Dhammayutika Nikaya), Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon. He is also the author of many free Dhamma books.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu was born Geoffrey DeGraff in 1949 and was introduced to the Buddha's teaching on the Four Noble Truths as a high schooler, during a plane ride from the Philippines. After graduating in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History from Oberlin College, he travelled to Thailand, where he practiced meditation under Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, who'd studied under Ajaan Lee. He was ordained in 1976 at Ajaan Lee's Wat Asokaram, where Ajaan Lee's nephew, Phra Rajvarakhun (Samrong Gunavuddho), served as Preceptor for his ordination. Later, he took residence at Wat Dhammasathit in Thailand, where he continued studying under Ajaan Fuang.