ravaka . (nyan thos) "Hearer" or "listener." The practitioners of the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths.

The first or initial stage in Hinayana, the second being that of Praetyka-Buddha. Sravaka, a Sanskrit word, means a hearer. It generally relates to Hinayana disciple who understands the Four Noble Truth in entering Nirvana.

A person who works only for his own Nirvana: release from suffering, and who relies on a teacher throughout his entire training.

Hearer; a disciple not yet capable of independent progress.

Lit. hearer; it originally referred to those who paid devoted attention to the spoken words of the Buddha; today it is more often applied to an ardent teacher of Buddhist texts; an individual still needing guidance in Dharma.

Lit., hearer; vehicle or stage of practice at which the practitioner is dependent on the word of the teacher rather than developing his own practice.

(Sanskrit) or Sāvaka (Pāli) (Tibetan nyan.thos) means "a hearer" or, more generally, "disciple."See, for instance, PTS (1921-25), p. 707, entry for "Sāvaka."http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.4:1:648.pali, which identifies the etymological root of "sāvaka" to be śru. In Nyanaponika, Hecker & Bodhi (2003), p. xvii, Bhikkhu Bodhi provides a seemingly different derivation, stating that "sāvaka" comes from sāveti, meaning "to declare," and refers either to one declaring the Buddha as their teacher or to one to whom the Dhamma has been declared. This term is used in both Buddhist and Jain texts.