Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
Encyclopedia
The project of the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
(usually referred to by the acronym DDB) was initiated by Charles Muller
, a specialist in East Asian Buddhism, during his first year of graduate school when he realized the dearth of lexicographical works available for both East Asian Buddhism and classical Chinese
. Since that time, he has continued to compile the terminology from the texts that he has studied and translated, extending for almost twenty years.
In 1995, with the advent of the Internet, Muller converted his data set from the word processor
files in which they were originally stored, into HTML
format, and placed them on his web site, to make his work-in-progress available to a broad audience, and see if it would be possible to take advantage of the WWW to encourage collaboration in the project.
Numerous scholars came forth to offer assistance in the form of both technical implementation and content contributions. Additionally, the project was able to secure a series of JSPS grants from 1997–2003, which greatly hastened the expansion of the coverage of both works. During this period, the storage format of the dictionaries was changed to SGML, and then XML
. In 2001, with the help of Humanities Computing XML specialist Michael Beddow
, the dictionaries were placed on the web in XML format with a search engine.
The DDB, as of March 2010, contains over 50,000 entries, including Buddhist terms, texts, schools, temples, and persons. Entries range from short glossary type, to full-length encyclopedic articles. Supported by dozens of collaborators with specialist expertise in many areas of Buddhist studies, the expansion rate of the DDB has been exponential in recent years.
A special dimension of the dictionaries is their usage of XML attributes to accredit contributors for their work at the level entry segments (XML "node
s") rather than only at the level of full entries. Being an ongoing digital project, entries and nodes of the work can be revised and expanded by their original authors, and supplemented by the contributions of others. Also, being a digital compilation, it is full-text searchable, and entries are hyperlink
ed. Editorial privileges are limited to accredited specialists in the field of Buddhist Studies, in order to avoid inaccuracies and various sectarian distortions.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
(usually referred to by the acronym DDB) was initiated by Charles Muller
Charles Muller
A. Charles Muller is an academic specializing in Korean Buddhism and East Asian Yogacara, having published numerous books and articles on these topics. He is a resident of Japan, currently teaching at the University of Tokyo...
, a specialist in East Asian Buddhism, during his first year of graduate school when he realized the dearth of lexicographical works available for both East Asian Buddhism and classical Chinese
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of written Chinese based on the grammar and vocabulary of ancient Chinese, making it different from any modern spoken form of Chinese...
. Since that time, he has continued to compile the terminology from the texts that he has studied and translated, extending for almost twenty years.
In 1995, with the advent of the Internet, Muller converted his data set from the word processor
Word processor
A word processor is a computer application used for the production of any sort of printable material....
files in which they were originally stored, into HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
format, and placed them on his web site, to make his work-in-progress available to a broad audience, and see if it would be possible to take advantage of the WWW to encourage collaboration in the project.
Numerous scholars came forth to offer assistance in the form of both technical implementation and content contributions. Additionally, the project was able to secure a series of JSPS grants from 1997–2003, which greatly hastened the expansion of the coverage of both works. During this period, the storage format of the dictionaries was changed to SGML, and then XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
. In 2001, with the help of Humanities Computing XML specialist Michael Beddow
Michael Beddow
Michael Beddow is a specialist in German literature, who is also a renowned expert in the application of XML technologies to web representations of literary corpora, and who is deeply involved with the work of the Text Encoding Initiative ....
, the dictionaries were placed on the web in XML format with a search engine.
The DDB, as of March 2010, contains over 50,000 entries, including Buddhist terms, texts, schools, temples, and persons. Entries range from short glossary type, to full-length encyclopedic articles. Supported by dozens of collaborators with specialist expertise in many areas of Buddhist studies, the expansion rate of the DDB has been exponential in recent years.
A special dimension of the dictionaries is their usage of XML attributes to accredit contributors for their work at the level entry segments (XML "node
Node (computer science)
A node is a record consisting of one or more fields that are links to other nodes, and a data field. The link and data fields are often implemented by pointers or references although it is also quite common for the data to be embedded directly in the node. Nodes are used to build linked, often...
s") rather than only at the level of full entries. Being an ongoing digital project, entries and nodes of the work can be revised and expanded by their original authors, and supplemented by the contributions of others. Also, being a digital compilation, it is full-text searchable, and entries are hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
ed. Editorial privileges are limited to accredited specialists in the field of Buddhist Studies, in order to avoid inaccuracies and various sectarian distortions.