About the keywords
The keywords are an experiment. They are meant to be useful, but they are not perfect and will keep being refined.
How to use them
The keywords are a way to the texts, something like a signpost: they show where something is spoken of and what goes with it. In some places they help more, for instance when you look for where else Mike or Dogen speaks of the same thing, and in others less. Use them where they help you, and feel free to leave them aside elsewhere; the texts are what matters.
A keyword page has several parts, the most important ones at the top:
- Summary. A short description of what the word means in our texts; where it names other keywords, it links to them. A longer summary opens in full with the more button.
- Map. The keyword is in the middle, around it the numbered texts that speak of it and the keywords that keep coming back with it there. The pebbles above the map lead to broader keywords (↑), those below it to narrower ones (↓). A click on a text opens it at the place where the keyword is spoken of; ⤢ shows the map full screen.
- Excerpts. On some main concepts the first tab under the map: what our teachers say on the subject, in excerpts from their talks and texts, each under a short title. How it was made is described below.
- Texts. The places where the keyword is spoken of, each with a short quote: first where it is the main theme, then where it is developed and where it is only mentioned. The number by a text is the one it has on the map, and the link opens the text right at that place. On a main concept each text has one to three dots for how much it speaks of the concept, and its strongest quote.
- Related (on a main concept also Keywords). Broader and narrower keywords, and those that often turn up together with it.
How the excerpts were made
Some main concepts have an Excerpts tab: what our teachers, Mike, Dogen and Nishijima, say on the subject. It was made like this:
- Selection. The texts on the concept are ranked by how much they speak of it, and the excerpts that capture it best are picked, each from a different angle. Where another text says the same, it is listed under the excerpt as "Also in".
- Order. The excerpts are put in an order where each follows from the one before: from what the concept is, through Dogen's words and the hard places, to practice.
- Titles. Each excerpt has a short title, so that it is quick to find your way in the list. A title is a label, not a quotation: the teacher's words are in the excerpt. Where a question stands under the title, it really was asked at the talk.
- Editing. The excerpts are lightly edited and shortened, above all the spoken language of the talks; an ellipsis (…) marks a sentence or more left out. The Slovak version is the same excerpt from the Slovak translation of the text.
Great care was taken not to change the meaning: nothing is added, made stronger or weaker, and no sentences are joined so that they answer something other than in the original. Every excerpt was compared once more with its source in both languages. Modern technologies were used in preparing the keywords and excerpts.
Still, the selection, the order and the titles are only one possible view; other views are possible, and another reader would choose and name differently. If you are in doubt, or the meaning seems to have shifted, the original text is what counts. The link under each excerpt opens it right at that place.
How the keywords were made
For every text on the site, from the Shobogenzo, the talks and further reading, its keywords were picked: the ideas, images, stories, people and works the text really speaks of. For each one the place in the text and a short quote are noted, so that you can go straight to where it is spoken of.
Then the keywords of all the texts were brought together. The same word in different wording (another translation, another spelling, another word order) became one. Related keywords are placed under main concepts, such as time, zazen or Buddha-nature, and the main concepts under a few broader areas. That gave a hierarchy: area › main concept › keyword.
Pictures show this hierarchy: the night sky with constellations by area, the map of concepts, on the page of each keyword a map of its texts and related words, and beside each text a small box with its keywords.
What they are good for
The keywords help you find your way: to see where else the same thing is spoken of, to move from one text to another, or to get a picture of which themes keep coming back. They help less with rare keywords that turn up in only one text.
The keywords are not 100% precise. An important place may be missing, a keyword may stand under a main concept where it does not quite belong, or the emphasis may lie somewhere other than where the text puts it.
The choice of keywords is one possible view; other views are possible. Another reader would pick out or stress something else in the same text. The keywords are not an interpretation of the teaching.
Still a work in progress
The keywords, where they are placed and how they are shown will keep being reviewed and adjusted; new texts will bring new keywords, and more concepts will get questions and answers.
The Shobogenzo one-minute overviews and the talk overviews are explained in the same way.
If you find a mistake or something inaccurate (for example a keyword that is clearly off), write to us through the contacts page.