The user can search for keywords or texts in any or all of the THDL literature collections. The form in the highlight box on the left allows one to find a text directly through its THDL identification number (e.g. Tk.91) or to search using a keyword. Just type in your query and press "Enter". The other links in the highlight box go to advanced search forms for the available collections. These are: the three separate editions of the Collected Tantras of the Ancients (rnying ma rgyud 'bum) and the Bönpo Literature Collection.

Simple Searches

There are two ways to search a textual collection over the Internet: 1) the simple search discussed here and 2) the advanced search discussed below. The simple search feature is accessible directly from the button-bar at the bottom of the collection browse window. Below the row of navigational icons, there is a text field followed by a search button. Simple searches may be entered here. One may search on a single syllable or phrase or use one of the wildcards listed below. Furthermore, it is possible to enter advanced searches in this field using, for instance, the boolean and/or/not keywords. Double quotes indicate an exact phrase; search criteria in parentheses are evaluated first. View a pictorial explanation of the search results.

Wildcards: Two wildcards are available for all searches. The question mark "?" represents any single character; e.g., "sky?b" returns both skyob and skyab. The asterisk (*) represents any set of 0 or more characters up to the end of the word, e.g., "sky*" would return skye, skyon and the English word, sky, as well as skyob and skyab. (Note: Due to an apparent bug in the software, the asterisk does not always seem to function as it should.)

Note on the Apostrophe (a chung): When performing searches on a Tibetan phrase containing an a chung, represented by an apostrophe ('), although the searching software recognizes the apostrophe, in some situations the apostrophe is not highlighted in the search results.

Note on Transliteration: All Tibetan terms must be entered using THDL's extended Wylie transliteration system and/or English.

Advanced Search Help

The advanced search feature allows for three types of searches. In the following list, short descriptions of each kind of search are given. More detailed descriptions may be found by clicking on a specific search name below:

• Contextual Search: This option searches for a certain type of information within a specified field. Thus, for example, one can search for a word or phrase within a text or chapter title, a person's name, a note, or a number of other categories.
• Proximity Search: Searches for two words or phrases that are within a designated proximity of each other.
• Boolean Search: Searches for inclusive or exclusive combinations of keywords, using standard boolean terms such as "or", "and", "not".

All three types of searches provide one with the option of narrowing the search to a particular doxographical category. The Collected Tantras of the Ancients is generally organized into three large categories: Atiyoga, Anuyoga, Mahāyoga. One can perform any of these searches within a particular doxographical category or in all of them, through the check boxes underneath each search form.

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Contextual Searches

Contextual searches allow the user to specify which category of information in the collection they would like to search. For example, a user could search for a phrase only in "Tibetan text titles" or only in "places". The following is the full list of categories we currently enable users to search within contextually.

• Tibetan text titles: searches for a text string within the text's normalized Tibetan title.
• Sanskrit text titles: searches for a text string within the Tibetan transliteration of the text's Sanskrit title.
• English text titles: searches for a text string within the available English text titles.
• chapter titles: searches for a text string within any chapter title of any text.
• people's names: searches for a text string within a person's name.
• places: searches for a text string within a place name.
• doxographical category: searches for a particular doxographical category, such as Atiyoga.
• notes & discussions: searches for a text string within a note or discussion.
• homage deities: searches for a text string within the object of homage field.
• pagination: searches for a text string within text or chapter paginations.
• number of sides: searches for texts of a specific length.
• number of body sections: searches for texts with a specific number of chapters.
• chapter designation: searches for texts with specific chapter labels, such as le'u or skabs.

Note: When searching on text titles, if the search phrase is contained in the title listed in the TOC area, this is also counted as a hit but is not highlighted. Therefore, the number of hits listed in the TOC area may be one greater than the hits highlighted in the content area to the right.

A few sample searches are offered below for a first time user to try out this facility. For each search, one can change the "Search within all" option to "Atiyoga", "Anuyoga" or "Mahayoga" and see the difference in results:

• Search for Tibetan text titles that contain the phrase chos nyid
• Search for Sanskrit text titles that contain the phrase tsit+ta
• Search for English text titles that contain the phrase bliss
• Search for people's names that contain the phrase bai ro ("Bai ro tsa na" was a famous Tibetan translator of the Old School.)
• Search for homage deities that contain the phrase rdo rje 'chang (the name of a Buddha.)
• Search for number of sides that contain the phrase 57 (this will return all texts that have 57 folio sides.)
• Search for number of body sections that contain the phrase 1?? (in this search the '?' acts as a wildcard; thus, it will return all texts that have 100 to 199 chapters.)
• Search for chapter designation that contains the phrase skabs (this will return all texts whose 'chapters' are called 'skabs'.)

When the results of such searches are returned, the left-hand frame still contains the table of contents, but red numbers now appear next to each level of the TOC indicating the number of hits in that item (i.e., edition, volume, or text). Only items with hits are shown. One can navigate through the TOC hierarchy to the text level, and the hits in each text will also be shown in red numbers next to the text title. The first text with a hit will be highlighted in blue and that text's record will appear in the right-hand frame. View a pictorial explanation of the search results.

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Proximity Search

As the name of this search suggests, one can use this form for searching for words or phrases that are within a certain proximity to another set of words or phrases. In the Tibetan context, syllables are delimited by a dot, called a "tsheg", while phrases are delimited by a line or "shay". However, there is no clear demarcation for words, which can be composed of more than one syllable. In proximity searches, "word" actually means syllable so that one can search for two syllables or words within a designated number of syllables each other. This is useful for Tibetan searches as it is a common convention to abbreviate a word by leaving out essential syllables. The proximity search can allow one to find all such variants. Either a single syllable or a word composed of multiple syllables (separated by spaces) can be entered into any of the search phrase boxes. There is also an option to choose the order of the words, whether one word comes before or after the other. Thus, possible searches are:

• Search for gsang ba within 1  word of snying po
• Search for gsang ba within 2  words before snying po
• Search for gsang within 1  word aftersnying
• Search for ye shes within 5 words of rang snang

Though in the first three the same terms are used (gsang ba or 'secret', and snying po or 'matrix'), each yields different results.

When the results of such searches are returned, the left-hand frame still contains the table of contents, but red numbers now appear next to each level of the TOC indicating the number of hits in that item (i.e., edition, volume, or text). Only items with hits are shown. One can navigate through the TOC hierarchy to the text level, and the hits in each text will also be shown in red numbers next to the text title. The first text with a hit will be highlighted in blue and that text's record will appear in the right-hand frame. View a pictorial explanation of the search results.

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Boolean Search

The boolean search allows one to look for various combinations of words or phrases. In the advanced search form, one can enter up to three different search terms connected by any possible combination of boolean terms. The available boolean terms are:

• and
• or
• not

The basic structure of the boolean search is:

phrase 1 and/or [not] phrase 2 [and/or [not] phrase 3]

One must use either an "and" or an "or" between phrases. The "not" is optional, as is the entire third phrase. Thus, one can search for:

• ye and not shes — to find "ye nas" and "ye grol", etc. but not "ye shes".
• sgrib or mun — to find records with either "sgrib" or "mun" (roughly synonymous).
• kun and rig and not rgyal — to find records with "kun ... rig" but not "kun ... rgyal".
• ye shes and not rang byung and snang ba — to find "ye shes snang ba" but not "rang byung ye shes"
• 'byor and not rnal — to find occurrences of "'byor" other than "rnal 'byor".

Generally, as shown above, the "not" keyword is used in conjunction with the "and" keyword. The software claims to recognize the "or not" combination. However, this logically makes little sense, and the implementation does not appear to work properly.

When the results of such searches are returned, the left-hand frame still contains the table of contents, but red numbers now appear next to each level of the TOC indicating the number of hits in that item (i.e., edition, volume, or text). Only items with hits are shown. One can navigate through the TOC hierarchy to the text level, and the hits in each text will also be shown in red numbers next to the text title. The first text with a hit will be highlighted in blue and that text's record will appear in the right-hand frame. View a pictorial explanation of the search results.

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