Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia
The Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia (CBE) project is a very long, energy and time consuming project, but at these rapidly changing times, there are all preconditions and necessities for projects like the CBE. The key function of CBE is the combination of IT, qualified Buddhist materials, educated Buddhists and modern people who want to learn more about Buddhism. In every aspect of our lives, computers and IT have more influence and the team of CBE has the same expectations and motivation about Buddhism and IT.
The author and main organizer of Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia is Vello Vaartnou. The CBE project was officially started in December, 2012, when Vaartnou presented the idea of the CBE at the ECAI conference in University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Academic approach will provide the opportunity to handle the materials and information scientifically, making them easily accessible and understandable for modern people and creating the opportunity for future generations to continue building on the online platform of CBE.
Each published article will have an academic prologue. In case of traditional Buddhist texts, Chinese, Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, and Mongolian terminology will be used. The meanings of the terminology will be explained in Chinese and English.
About
A key function for the CBE is cultural preservation. In these rapidly changing times, where computers and the internet pose a great threat to traditional forms of Buddhist learning, it is necessary to gather all available materials, translate them and digitize them. It is important for the founders that well-educated, senior Buddhist monastics and academics would be involved in the project to provide assistance, ideas, advice and “quality- control”. They will help ensure the Buddhist view and essence of the materials presented will not lose their religious (Buddhist) value, and that published materials will not insult anyone’s religious beliefs or values. It is important for the CBE team to stay independent from any personal, political, or dogmatic views.
Join Us
Translators - our everyday work and communications are multi lingual, especially in terms of Chinese and English. We are seeking for more people whose mother tongue would be English or Chinese and could help us with proofreading and translating letters and text materials. We also need to translate and develop the idea of Buddhist Encyclopedia in different languages, therefore we welcome all people who are interested to be involved and master any other languages besides Mandarin and English.
Editors - the work that we have to do is enormous. We are looking for more English or Chinese speaking editors. Currently, the role of an editor is to search and post more articles. Usually every editor has his/her own research subject.
IT specialists- the success of our project relies equally on the knowledge on Buddhism as well as IT. We are constantly looking for new software solutions and we welcome people who are good with IT and computers such as – website developers, designers, programmers and others
Advisers - we are seeking for more highly educated Buddhist disciples, academics, scholars or any other individuals or organizations, who can contribute to the development of the Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia.
Partners- universities, schools, temples, monasteries, government departments, libraries, archives, museums, etc. are all welcome to propose any useful forms of cooperation
Sponsors - we need additional funds to increase the staff, buy equipment, books and conduct the Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia project. You DONATIONS are most welcome.
For any request of information, please contact us - info(at)chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com
Donate
The Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia is a self-funded activity with no official sponsors. Financial support is needed for hiring more staff, equipment and development. We also accept donations like books, art and other materials, which can benefit the development of the CBE project. A thousand miles journey starts with a single step. For those who can afford and want to support, please MAKE A DONATION
