Hau Tou
Intense concentration on a question-word which defies any answer and allows no answer at all. Literally, it refers to the source of word before it is uttered. It is a method used in Ch'an Sect to arouse the doubt. The practitioner meditates on questions as who is reciting the Buddha's name?. He does not rely on experience or reasoning. Sometimes, it is also known as Kung-an.

Heavenly Eye
See Devine Eye.

Hetavadinah
Another name of Sarvastivadah.

Hinayana
Also called Small Vehicle or Liberated Vehicle, which refers to Sravaka and Praetyka-Buddha. It is a school of Buddhism, popular in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, hence also known as Southern Buddhism, in contrast with Northern Buddhism or Mahayana, the form mainly prevalent from Nepal to Japan.

Hinayana is sometimes described as self-benefiting, and Mahayana as self-benefiting for the benefit of others. Another difference is that Pali is the general literary language in Hinayana while Sanskrit of Mahayana. See also Theravada.

Hinayana is nearer to the original teaching of the Buddha. For further details, please refer to Section 3-A A Glimpse in the Scope of Buddhism in Vol. 1 No. 4 of Buddhist Door.

Hsu Yun
A great Ch'an master in China. He died in 1959 at the age of 120.

Hua-yen School
It is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra and was founded by Tu Shun in China.

Hui Neng
The Sixth Patriarch of Zen (Ch'an) Sect in China.

heavenly realms

Realms where devas dwell. They are: thekama-heavens, or heavens of desire (spheres where lust still exists); the rupadhatu-heavens, or four heavens of ethereal form (where sexual desires and desires for delicious food exist but where material beauty and magnificent surroundings do and where inhabitants enjoy states of mental ecstasy; and the arupadhatu-heavens, or formless heavens (worlds of pure abstract thought and nothing has material form. The inhabitants of this realm have no bodies, just feelings. The devas who dwell in the six heavenly realms are extremely high and blessed beings; however, they can have not escaped the cycle of birth and death, and can backslide into the lower realms when their merits are exhausted, unless they reach the ultimate goal of Buddhahood.

Heroic Gate Sutra

See "Shurangama Sutra."

Hinayana Buddhism

See "Small Vehicle."

Hsuan Hua

The Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, a renowned teacher of both Pure Land and Chan Buddhism, was the founder of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the Dharma Realm Buddhist University, the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage, CA, and the Buddhist Text Translation Society, the publisher of several of the books presented, excerpted, or summarized on this Web site.

hungry ghosts

Sprits, or demons, who are always hungry because they have pinpoint mouths and ravenous appetites. One of the three evil realms is the realm of hungry ghosts.