THDL Literature Collections’ Status
This page reflects the latest developments within the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library’s Literature Collections. It will continue to be updated periodically as necessary. While work is continually being done on various projects within Collections, the posting of final results may be at long intervals. We recommend that users bookmark this page and check here first to be informed of the most recent additions and updates to the Literature Collections. The entries are provided as a running list of our achievements. Below, one will also find our Projects in Progress, which provides a list of projects currently underway.
Wylie Word 2.0 (November 3, 2005) |
The latest version of Wylie Word is now available for download. Wylie Word is Microsoft Word document templated that contains several macros written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), which allow the user to enter Tibetan digital text using THDL’s Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme. Version 2.0 has significantly improved its functionality:
To download Wylie Word 2.0, go to its home page at http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/tools/wyword.html |
Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme (September 1, 2003) |
The Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme (EWTS) is an initiative that has been headed by the THDL but has received contribution from scholars and techincal experts around the world. In a recent round of electronic talks, the old EWTS scheme (November, 2001) has been updated to be more comprehensive and accurate. THDL input methods and converters, such as Wylie Word and Jskad, have also been modified to reflect these recent changes to the EWTS. The scheme has been marked up in XML for greater flexibility in display and reference. This new version of EWTS can be viewed at http://orion.lib.virginia.edu/thdl/collections/langling/ewts/. |
Catalog of mChog gyur gling pa’s New Treasures (December 2, 2002) |
A catalog of the 39 volumes of mChog gyur gling pa’s “New Treasures” also including works by the treasure-revealer himself has been cataloged by Andreas Doctor. The catalog information includes the Tibetan title, number of pages in the text, authorship, date of composition or revelation, place of composition or revelation, and a short description. The catalog may be found within the Nyingma under the rubric of Treasures of mChog gyur gling pa. |
Projects in Progress
THDL Literature Collections has a number of projects at various stages of completion to either enhance existing collections or add new content. These include:
- Detailed XML catalog of rnying ma rgyud 'bum: This catalog, which is already on-line, consists of a beta version of a master edition that correlates all the versions of each text in the extant editions as well as links to the page images for certain editions (Modifications to the numbering scheme and organization of the master catalog are in the works), as well as the final versions of catalogs for the individual mtshams brag, gting skyes, sde dge, bai ro'i rgyud 'bum editions. The browsing view of these catalogs is presented using XML, while searching is done on the SGML versions due to technical limitations. We are in the process of developing XML searching capability so as to create a fully integrated XML cataloging system.
- Catalog of the bka' 'gyur and bstan 'gyur: In collaboration with Phil Stanley of Naropa University, we will be applying the same cataloging technology to the largest Tibetan Buddhist canon, the bka' 'gyur and bstan 'gyur to create comprehensive, cross-referenced catalog of these two major scriptural collections.
- Catalog of Bön Literature: Continuing work on the catalog of Bon literature in collaboration with Rice University.
- XML E-texts of the rnying ma tradition: In collaboration with Matthieu Ricard of Shechen Monastery and others, we are beginning to catalog, convert, and mark up digitally entered texts of classic Buddhist literature to be available for viewing or download. See the Shechen Input Project page.
- Tibetan Literature Genres: In collaboration with Jose Cabezon (University of California at Santa Barbara), Matthew Kapstein (University of Chicago) and others, we have made available on-line an electronic version of Tibetan Literary Genres. This will serve as the starting point for other interpretative studies of Tibetan genres, with links to example texts.
- Oral commentaries on Tibetan literature: Using audio-video and specialized transcriptional software, we are amassing a collection of mulimedia presentations of Tibetan teachers' oral commentaries on a variety of genres of Tibetan literature. These presentations allow the user to watch and listen to the oral commentary, while at the same time being able to access a transcript of the talk, an electronic version of the original text, plus other reference materials.
- Literary instructional materials: Professors David Germano (THDL, University of Virginia) and Matthew Kapstein (University of Chicago) are creating a collection of instruction materials for literary Tibetan, including progressively advancing lessons with readings from various genres of Tibetan literature accompanied by reading aids.
- Historical classics: Beginning with electronic versions of Blue Annals and Great Fifth Dalai Lama's history, we are building a collection of classic Tibetan historical texts, which will be marked up in XML. With the future implementation of XML searching capabilities in conjunction with a biographical database that will correlate variant names for a single individual, this collection will be a powerful resource for historians of Tibet.