The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (981 page)

). From a
brahman
born and bred in this land all people should learn how to live.… Beyond is the land of the mlecchas: a
twice-born
should remain in this land; a
dra
may, to gain his livelihood, live anywhere.
Buddhism was not even confined to territory, since it was, at least in terms of teaching, opposed to caste, sacrifice, and dharma determined by Vedas and brahmans. However, it was not on trivial issues that the early schools divided (see
COUNCILS
(BUDDHIST)); and the subsequent elaboration into
s
tra
-based Buddhism (i.e.
Mah
y
na
) led to an immense proliferation of schools and traditions. But although there has been considerable hostility between Mah
y
na and
H
nay
na
(witness the latter name itself), the different forms of Buddhism have in general flourished in different geographical areas. The definition of the heretic has therefore been extremely local, leading to expulsion from communities, especially of monks (see
EXCOMMUNICATION
). The nearest equivalent to heresy is ‘false views’: see
DI
HI
.

 
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Hermas
.

Second-cent. Roman Christian and author of a work called
The Shepherd
. This purports to have been written in consequence of a series of visions. It is divided into five ‘Visions’, twelve ‘Mandates’, and ten ‘Similitudes’. In the E. Church it was widely regarded as scripture, and is found in the Codex Sinaiticus after the New Testament.