Theravada is the older of the two great branches of Buddhism, the one practised across Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It keeps to the Pali Canon — the earliest surviving collection of the Buddha's teachings — and puts its weight on the monastic community, on meditation, and on each person working towards liberation through their own effort. The other branch, Mahayana, spread north into China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Tibet, and that is the family Taiwanese Buddhism belongs to, so for a student here Theravada is the tradition of the neighbours to the south, not the one seen in local temples. Always capitalized. It works both as a noun ('he studies Theravada') and, more often, in front of another noun ('a Theravada monk', 'Theravada Buddhism'). You may still see it spelled 'Theravāda' with a bar over the a in careful academic writing. One word to avoid: older books call this branch 'Hinayana' (lesser vehicle) — that name was coined by the other side and is an insult, so say Theravada.

上座部佛教（南傳佛教）。台灣佛教屬於北傳的大乘（Mahayana），所以這是泰國、緬甸、斯里蘭卡那一系。舊書上的「小乘」是帶貶意的他稱，正式場合請用「上座部」或「南傳」。