[Ditthadhamma Lokadhamma]

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Towards a Uniform Style
for Pāḷi Texts and Translations

This thread, until such time as it is organized into a formal style book, will be a random collection of thoughts and suggestions. Latest additions first.

Links at the nidana (and wherever else they may be placed) should be placed in chronological order of translation: [1] (always the Pāḷi) [wrrn][chlm][pts][than][ntbb][bodh][olds] in some cases the order of the last four will be different than is shown here.

Quotation marks: After the narrator, the first speaker should be quoted using standard quotation marks: " "; quotations within, either of the speaker of him self or of others should have single quotation marks ' '; with that pattern followed thereafter: " ' " ' " '...

Compounds that are compounds should be translated as compounds and should be hyphinated except in the case of the long vowel or the double consonnant.

Abbreviations should have the apostrophy: tv'eva.

Each sentence should be in its own paragraph and end with "|| ||";
phrases within a sentence should be given a line-break and end with "||";
lists should also get a line break ("||") between each item and each item should be separated by commas up to the second-to-the-last which should get no comma;
sentences with internal lists or repeated long phrases with internal phrases separated by commas should be broken between each item with a paragraph break and be separated by a semi-colon and should not be capatilized at the beginnings of each section.

If, in the Pāḷi text or a translation there is a number, and it looks like this: [1] that is the page number of the original source of that text and that page number is an identified object to which you may link by appending to the url for the page "#pg1" (without the quotation marks.) When the page number is in other formats, it has not yet been given an identity. You may, however, link to it in the same way in the expectation that at some point it will be given such an id. So doing will not invalidate the link it will just point to the top of the page.

Example: Use: "../../dhamma-vinaya/pts/mn/mn.013.horn.pts.htm#pg119" for Horner's MN.13, page 119.

Similarly, in the cases of those books primarily composed of verses, verse numbers appear like this: [1] and may be linked to by appending to the url for the page "#v1"

Example: Use "../../dhamma-vinaya/pts/kd/thag/thag.240.rhyc.pts.htm#v601" for Mrs. Rhys Davids' THAG.240, verse 601

Pāḷi pages have the following appearance: [348] and will be links to the PTS Pāḷi Text Page number as located on this site's BJT/PTS hybrid Pāḷi Text. These links can themselves be linked to by appending "#pt000" (without the quotation marks; zeros do not precede single or double digit numbers) to the url.
Along these same lines, I can see at some point a future generation editor adding/restoring the alternative readings and the page numbers of other versions of the Pāḷi. At this point, for the following reasons, I have not included/kept these items: 1. Alternate readings are 99% irrelevant to the understanding of the doctrine (occasionally they are significant, but on these occasions they will almost certainly have been noted in footnotes); 2. are needlessly confusing; 3. would take more time than seems reasonable to me considering their utility; 4. page numbers to Pāḷi texts that are not readily available are a time consuming luxory.
While we're at it, let's add to this list the insertion of the various corrections found in errata sheets, footnotes, and on errata pages at the end of some of the books.

 

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Section numbers and symbols separating sections are unreliable. Different versions of the Pāḷi have used different section numberings as have different translations. Editing of such has altered the numbering inconsistently. The precise 'rule' for determining a section is not defined consistently. This problem would be eliminated by segmenting all translations and the Pāḷi sentence by sentence.

Where the first portion of the Nidana is missing, the occasion portion should still be included; at some point someone will have the enterprise to figure out the proper location portion for all suttas. Some 'Chapter' collections (where the second and subsequent suttas often begin: "Then ..." will be determined to consist of only one sutta.

Once segmented by sentence all further segmentation styles should be eliminated with the exception of major breaks in very long suttas.

An agreement should be reached between all translators on the form and use of diacriticals and that should be applied across the board. That includes the Pāḷi, the translations, the PED and the various commentaries, essays, etc.