Hīnayāna (हीनयान) is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: the "Inferior Vehicle", "Deficient Vehicle", the "Abandoned Vehicle", or the "Defective Vehicle". The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century.

Hīnayāna is contrasted with Mahāyāna, which means the "Great Vehicle." There are a variety of interpretations as to who or what the term "Hīnayāna" refers to. The Chinese monk Yijing who visited India in the 7th century, distinguishes Mahāyāna from Hīnayāna as follows:

The word Hīnayāna is formed of hīna (हीन): "poor", "inferior","abandoned", "deficient", "defective;" and yāna (यान): "vehicle", where "vehicle" 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."

In the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese languages, the term was translated by Kumārajīva and others as "small vehicle" (小 meaning "small", 乘 meaning "vehicle"), although earlier and more accurate translations of the term also exist. In Mongolian (Baga Holgon) term for Hinayana also means "small" or "lesser" vehicle, while in Tibetan there are at least two words to designate the term, theg chung (Tibetan: ཐེག་ཆུང་) meaning "small vehicle", and theg dman (Tibetan: ཐེག་དམན་) meaning "inferior vehicle" or "inferior spiritual approach".

Sheng Yen (聖嚴; Pinyin: Shèngyán, birth name Zhang Baokang, 張保康) (December 4, 1930 – February 3, 2009) was a Buddhist monk, a religious scholar, and one of the mainstream teachers of Chinese Chan Buddhism. He was the 57th generational descendant of Linji in the Linji (Japanese: Rinzai) School and a 3rd generational descendant of Master Hsu Yun. In the Caodong (Japanese: Sōtō) lineage, Sheng Yen was the 52nd generational descendant of Master Dongshan (807-869), and the direct descendant of Master Dongchu (1908–1977).

Sheng Yen was the founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist organization based in Taiwan. During his time in Taiwan, Sheng Yen was well known as one of the progressive Buddhist teachers who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western-influenced world. In Taiwan, he was one of four prominent modern Buddhist masters, along with Masters Hsing Yun, Cheng Yen and Wei Chueh. In 2000 he was one of the keynote speakers in the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held in the United Nations.

Oliver Shanti (Born Ulrich Schulz 16 November 1948 in Hamburg), also known as Oliver Serano-Alve, is a New Age musician. Founder of the band Inkarnation which was originally based on meditative music, and later transformed into "Oliver Shanti & Friends". Because of Oliver's unavailability, the rest of the group is continuing with multi-instrumentalist Margot Reisinger (formerly known as Margot Vogl and Margot Shanti), a member of the original staff, as "Existence".

In 2002, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Germany, with a €3000 reward offered, on suspicion of his having committed child sexual abuse. Shanti went missing at that time, and was reported to be living secretly in Germany or its adjacent countries. He was arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, on 29 June 2008, and charged with 314 cases of child abuse on 20 April 2009. After having attempted suicide during his pre-trial custody, "Oliver Shanti" was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison on Friday, December 4, 2009 - after a Munich court convicted him of 76 counts of child sexual abuse.