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Buddhism
arose in the world 2,500 years ago and has grown side by side with the human race ever
since. The Buddha’s teaching has been adopted by people of many races and languages. The
teaching has been tested and verified in all manner of ways during its 2,500 year history.
Its durability has proven the fact that the Buddha’s teaching is truly deathless. For
Buddhists it represents the Teacher himself. The words spoken by the Buddha over the mere
45 year period after his enlightenment until his final passing away (parinibbana) are said
to cover 84,000 topics (dhammakkhandha), and these are collected and arranged in the
scriptures that Buddhists revere most highly, known as the Tipitaka, and it is here that
they have been preserved up to the present time. The preservation of the Tipitaka has been
undertaken in accordance with the technology available in each age. For instance, in the
Buddha’s time, instruments for writing were scarce, so the preservation of the Tipitaka
at that time was done by the method known as mukhapatha—recitation and memorization. As
time went on other methods were developed to preserve the teachings. Stone inscriptions,
metal plates, leaf scriptures, cloth, paper and other materials—whatever was available
in each age—were all used in the effort to accurately preserve these holy texts. |
Because the Tipitaka is
so vast, its inscription, preservation and use for study has always presented great
difficulty. Thus the idea of using modern computer technology to preserve the texts seems
to be a natural conclusion. The Mahidol University Computing Center began this project by
creating the world’s first digital edition of Tipitaka in 1988, and since then it has
continuously developed and expanded the project in order to make the preservation of the
Buddhist scriptures more abreast of the times, thus ensuring that the Buddha’s teaching
and discipline (Dhammavinaya) is truly “akaliko” timeless. Initially presented on hard
disk, then WORM (Write Once Read Many) disk, the Tipitaka is now available on CD-ROM
(Compact Disk Read Only Memory) disk, which is the most technologically advanced medium
available at present.
Apart from the Tipitaka,
the Atthakatha (Commentaries) and some portions of the Tika (Sub Commentaries), which are
the scriptures that expand on and explain the Tipitaka texts, other important texts have
also been included in the set, making it a truly comprehensive and indispensable aid for
study and research.
| A manual of
user guide is provided to aid the use of this digital version of the Tipitaka and
Atthakatha on CD-ROM and also the program BUDSIR IV (Buddhist Scriptures Information
Retrieval version IV) in its newly developed form under the Windows platform, which is
capable of displaying several windows at one time. Moreover, this version also includes
the capacity to give audio readouts of the Pali texts as an extra aid in research. |
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The BUDSIR user manual is
divided into four main sections. The first chapter deals with the history and development
of the digital version of the Tipitaka and Atthakatha up until the development of BUDSIR
IV for Windows, the program’s general features and capabilities, the basic computer
hardware and software requirements, opening up the program, quitting the program and
getting help when problems arise. The second chapter explains the different menu commands
in BUDSIR IV for Windows. The third chapter gives examples of searching the Tipitaka and
Atthakatha by word/phrase, by volume/passage/page, and also other features of the program.
The last section of the manual contains appendices, comprising an appendix on getting help
via the Internet, a comparative table of the volumes of the Tipitaka and Atthakatha,
current projects at the Mahidol University Computing Center and planned projects for the
future development of the digital version of the Tipitaka and Atthakatha.
The Computing Center is
exceedingly grateful for the gracious kindness His Majesty the King has shown in
initiating this project and graciously donating some of his own funds towards its
successful implementation.
The Computing Center
would also like to reverentially give thanks to Somdet Nyanasamvara, His Holiness the
Sangharaja, who was the project’s Honorary Advisor, and Venerable Chao Khun Phra
Dhammapitaka (Prayudh Payutto), who helped the project with suggestions and advise about
many of the problems that arose during the implementation of the project so that all
problems were eventually overcome. The Computing Center also extends its thanks to
Professor Dr. Natth Bhamarapravati, former President of Mahidol University, who began the
project and supported and encouraged it while he was President of the University. Thanks
also to Prem Sumetpong, Songpol Moonsanit and Lersun Kuvareewong for their contributions
in the software development. This manual could not be made possible without the editing
efforts of the following persons: Jiraporn Kiatpibool, Bang-orn Kornwirat and Bruce Evans,
special thanks go to all of them. Lastly, let us not forget the users of the first version
of BUDSIR, who pointed out its mistakes and shortcomings and provided us with advice and
suggestions for its improvement, all of which were invaluable for the development of
BUDSIR IV for Windows.
The Computing Center is
proud to have played a part in the continued preservation of the treasury of priceless
wisdom that is the Tipitaka, and hopes that BUDSIR IV for Windows and its manual will aid
the user, at least to some extent, in his or her research, and we are happy to receive
corrections or suggestions in order to improve future versions of BUDSIR IV for Windows.
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