Tour
Beginning with the assumption that the reader knows nothing about the science of awakening taught by Gotama, the first point of entry here should be the reading of The Little Magic Kitbag. That holds true for the person with some experience and the expert. This is a real sutta, a real magic spell and deep as deep can be. That is why it is the first icon on the home page. Click the image.
This will bring you to the 'contents' page for the 'book'. Click on the first 'page'; the contents page for the 'Nidana' 'chapter' and in the same way, click on the first page of the Nidana chapter to bring you to the first real page of the book.
On this page you will see the rest of the features you need to know about to navagate through the rest of the book. #1 points to the buttons to be used to go ahead one page, back one page and back to the home page. #2 points to commentary occasionally made by "Professor Professor, AKA "pp", a know-it-all academic type who finds it impossible to let an opportunity to clear things up go by without creating confusion. PP will intrude himself throughout the site. His image, you will note, strongly resembles that of the King of New York. OK, it's the same as that of the King of New York.
That's it for The Little Magic Kitbag. Then ... Let's suppose a small miracle has occurred and you have found yourself interested in learning a little more at the expense of having to wade through an expanded, more detailed presentation of the system as a whole. That is The Pali Line, the second image on the home page. Click on that image to begin.
Navagation is straight-forward. The only new element is the introduction of occasional 'trap doors' which will take the unwary reader on interesting side trips or occasionally prod him to wake up and pay attention. If you notice one of those spots, do not touch that spot!
Next up: From the home page click on
This page contains a comprehensive list of the translations from the Pali of the teachings of Gotama by 'Ol'Begga Ols' and an extensive group of other translators. It is in the form of an Index to the Sutta Pitaka and other branches of the Pali Canon. It is the presentation of these translations that is the primary purpose of this website.
It is anticipated that the intelligent reader will approach these translations with a critical analytical mind-set. To assist such a reader there are three other tools presented on this site: instructions in and tools for research into both the translations of and the meaning of the translations including contemporary and historical translations pointing back to the original Pali which is provided in every case; an outline presentation of the structure of the science of awakening; and a forum where subtle points in all aspects of Dhamma research may be discussed.
From the home page the points of access to these research tools are the last three icons. The first brings the reader to a page describing multiple approaches to Dhamma research with points of access to a large collection of resources. The lead, in this case, is naturally assumed by Professor Professor.
Access to the outline presentation of the system is gained by clicking on the next icon:
The point here is to clarify and organize the method which is otherwise in the suttas presented in small increments according to the situation that originated the sutta. There is considerable duplication in this presentation with that found in The Pali Line, but here there is no explanation. The consequence is a greater expectation of clarity.
The Discussion forum is accessed by way of the last icon. The rules, in the briefest of terms, are that this is not going to be a place where one should expect political correctness. There is a point of view here about what and how Gotama taught which is unique and to a great extent found by those who do not understand it to be in conflict with the consensus view both lay and Buddhist. Questions are welcome. Challengers are welcome too, but should be prepared to argue their case to conclusion whether or not either the process or the conclusion is comfortable.
Navigating within the suttas and from there to the other research tools is accomplished by clicking on links.
Note: the navagation bar shown here has changed; the principle remains the same. Since this was written the entire site has been converted to Unicode so there is only one version.
A feature that has been of abiding interest to many is called "The Glossology". More than a glossary, it contains evolving studies of the important terms found in this science. For an example, visit the listing for the important term "Dukkha". At the foot of that page there is a link to the Glossology contents page.
If there is an important personality mentioned in a sutta there will be a link to biographical material such as for Tapassu and Bhallika.
OK, then, at this point one has seen the core of the website and should simply explore from the home page as curiosity dictates.
Other much valued sections include:
The General Index
The Forum Archives, and
The Gallery.
If, in the Pali text or a translation you see 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 verse "#v1"
Example: Use "dhamma-vinaya/pts/kd/thag/thag.240.rhyc.pts.htm#v601" for Mrs. Rhys Davids' THAG.240, verse 601
