| Manual of Style (MoS) |
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These conventions are used to write and edit Indo-Buddhist-related articles, as well as consistent naming of Indo-Buddhist-related people, places, and historical terms.
Policy edit
Please follow these conventions in naming topics and article titles on Buddhism in the English language Wikipedia. These policies are specifically intended for names and words found in Buddhist texts that are written in Sanskrit and Pali and are translated to other languages.
Scope edit
These conventions should be applied to names and terms from Buddhist texts that are written in Sanskrit and Pali.
They may also be suitable for terms from Buddhist texts written in other languages, such as Tibetan, Chinese, etc.
Deciding on an article title edit
Overview edit
These guidelines are based on the following points from the Wikipedia guidelines on naming articles:
- Recognizability – Is the candidate title a recognizable name or description of the topic?
- Naturalness – What title(s) are readers most likely to look for in order to find the article? Which title(s) will editors most naturally use to link from other articles? Such titles usually convey what the subject is actually called in English.
- Precision – How precise is the title under discussion? Consensus titles usually use names and terms that are precise...but only as precise as necessary to identify the topic of the article unambiguously.
Choosing a title edit
Follow these guidelines in choosing a title for an article:
- If the topic has a commonly accepted English translation, than use the English wording. For example:
- If the topic has a variety of English translations and it is not clear which translation is most common, then use a Sanskrit or Pali transliteration as described below.
Choosing Sanskrit/Pali title edit
If choosing a Sanskrit or Pali title, follow these conventions:
- If the term is common in Sanskrit (or a tradition derived from Sanskrit), then choose a Sanskrit title. (See discussion.)
- If the term is primarily relevant to the Pali canon, but not common in the Sanskrit-based (e.g. Northern Buddhist) traditions, then choose a Pali title.
- If the term is exclusive to commentaries in another language (such as Japanese), then choose a title from that language. (For example, Koan.)
- If a term has great significance for a particular tradition (such as Tibetan Buddhism) and is not significant in other traditions, and there is also an equivalent Sanskrit term, then use your best judgement in choosing the most appropriate language for the title. (For example, Dzogchen.)
Transliteration from Sanskrit or Pali edit
Regarding transliteration from Sanskrit/Pali: if there is a commonly accepted English spelling of the Sanskrit/Pali term, then use the common spelling, even if it is technically less accurate then other transliterations. That is, choose the simplified transliteration over the formal transliteration as described in the Wikipedia guidelines here.
For example, the term samsara is commonly used in the English language with the spelling samsara. Therefore, use the more common spelling (samsara) rather than the more technically accurate Sanskrit spelling of saṃsāra. The reason for choosing the common spelling over the more technically accurate spelling is because the common spelling is:
- more recognizable for most readers
- more natural for English readers (since it does not contain unfamiliar diacritical marks which many readers do not know how to pronounce), and
- precise enough to accurately identify the article.
These three points are consistent with the general Wikipedia guidelines in choosing an article name.
See also:
Formatting edit
Overview edit
These formatting guidelines are based on the following principles:
- Since there are likely to be hundreds, if not thousands, of articles for Buddhist terms, it is highly beneficial to apply a standard formatting that addresses issues of translation and transliteration within the article.
- The primary vehicle for clarifying the translation and transliteration of terms into languages other than Sanskrit or Pali will be the translation info-box for Buddhist terms.
- By using the translation info-box:
- The lede sentence can be kept simpler and more streamlined.
- Editors can focus more on the content of the lede paragraph while those with knowledge of translation and transliteration can focus their expertise on the translation info-box.
Leading sentence edit
Ideally, when introducing an article that is covered by this policy, follow these guidelines:
For an English title:
- Title in English (Sanskrit: Sanskrit in IAST; Pali: Pali in IAST) is...
- For example:
- The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni; Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are...
For a Sanskrit title that uses a simplified transliteration:
- Title in Sanskrit (Sanskrit, also Sanskrit in IAST; Pali: Pali in IAST) is. ...
- For example:
- Kleshas (Sanskrit, also kleśa; Pali: kilesa), in Buddhism, are...
For a Sanskrit title that uses IAST:
- Title in Sanskrit (Sanskrit; Pali: Pali in IAST) is. ...
- For example:
- Avidyā (Sanskrit; Pali: avijjā), means...
- Saṃskāra (Sanskrit; Pali: saṅkhāra), means...
If the term is significant for Tibetan Buddhism, include the Tibetan term in addition to the Sanskrit and Pali terms, as follows:
- Title in Sanskrit (Sanskrit; Pali: Pali in IAST; Tibetan: Tibetan in Wylie) is. ...
- For example:
- Kleshas (Sanskrit, also kleśa; Pali: kilesa; Tibetan: nyon mongs), in Buddhism, are...
- Avidyā (Sanskrit; Pali: avijjā; Tibetan: ma rig pa), means...
Note the following:
- Use IAST for the Sanskrit and Pali transliteration in the lead sentence. Transliteration of Sanskrit/Pali using other scripts, such as Devanagari, can be included in the translation info-box. (See discussion.)
- Use Wylie for the Tibetan transliteration. Traditional Tibetan script can be included in the translation info-box. (See discussion)
- Translations of the term into other languages such as Chinese or Burmese can be included in the translation info-box.
- Do not hyperlink the terms Sanskrit or Pali (or Tibetan) when they appear as shown in the lead. These terms will be hyper-linked in the translation info-box.[1]
Infobox for translation of Buddhist terms edit
A special template has been made to display a set of term-specific translations from languages historically associated with Buddhist texts.
You can use this template to include:
- Translations into languages other than Sanskrit or Pali
- Alternate transliterations of terms, where appropriate
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ Note: this is taking an exception from the Wikipedia Manual of Style for foreign language terms. The reason for the exception is to keep the lede sentence as simple and uncluttered as possible, and because these hyperlinks will appear in the translation infobox.