DDB Access vs Pāli Practice

DDB (Digital Dictionary of Buddhism) and CJKV-E (Classical Chinese) are collaborative works edited by Charles Muller, University of Tokyo. DDB Access gives access to DDB and CJKV-E from iPhone and iPad. DDB Access is a free application. Any user may access the dictionary by entering "guest" as the username with no password. This will allow a total of 20 searches in each of the DDB and CJKV-E dictionaries in a 24-hour period. Contributors can get unlimited access by submitting a 350+ word entry as specified at http://www.buddhism-dict.net/contribute.html DDB and CJKV-E are primarily resources for scholars. Contributors are required to have completed a graduate degree to at least the equivalent of the M.A. level in graduate school program at a fully accredited university, where one has received direct formal training in the reading of classical East Asian Buddhist texts. DDB Access also contains a demo (WIP) of Séraphin Couvreur's "Dictionnaire classique de la langue chinoise" which supports most of its translations with example sentences and their sources. SEARCH Search dictionaries by Chinese, pinyin or translation. PARSE AND LOOKUP After copying a full text, SmartHanzi provides immediate access to unknown words. The app shows links to related words (also in, contained) and character details: character series (Kangxi, etymology). With this perspective beyond immediate usage, one gets naturally familiar with words and characters. It also recognizes multiple traditional variants. For instance, searching 真 (or finding 真 in a text) will show both 真 and 眞, according to what is present in selected dictionaries. Or it will recognize equally well 為 / 爲 or 眾 / 衆. Texts or individual words can be read aloud with Apple voices. ETYMOLOGY Along centuries, Chinese writing has developed a number of reference points, reasonable or simply traditional, well known by most Chinese: "Se non è vero, è ben trovato". Character series emphasize these reference points. All character series available for the current character are easily accessible. DICTIONARIES The application also includes general dictionaries for scholars working on Buddhist texts with literary or historical terminology, and a first demo of the "Couvreur" dictionary for Classical Chinese. USER INTERFACE User chooses to show pronunciations in Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. Lookup is easily customizable to just show preferred details and keep presentation clear. On iPad, landscape orientation, the app can show either in full screen (with both parse and lookup parts visible) or multiple applications: smartphone-like format side by side with the original text. MAC VERSION A dedicated Mac version is on Mac App Store.

The app uses flashcard exercises that ask you to find the correct grammatical form. For verbs, you are shown a verb and asked to conjugate it for a given tense, person, and number. For nouns, you are asked to decline a word in a specific case, gender, and number. You think or say the answer yourself, then tap to check it, along with the word’s translation. The app follows a spaced repetition approach: after each review, you mark items as easy or difficult, and they are shown again later depending on how well they are remembered. Pāli Practice works fully offline and is designed for brief, regular study, so it can be used whenever you have a free moment. The app is intended for Theravada Buddhism practitioners and students of early Buddhist texts who want a simple tool for practicing grammatical forms. It supports ongoing study but does not replace textbooks, courses, or teachers. Word and grammar data are sourced from the Digital Pāli Dictionary project. The icon is the quail from SN 47:6, the Sakuṇagghi Sutta ("The Hawk"), hiding behind rocks in its ancestral territory – a newly plowed field with clumps of earth all turned up: "Wander, monks, in what is your proper range, your own ancestral territory. In one who wanders in what is his proper range, his own ancestral territory, Māra gains no opening, Māra gains no foothold. And what, for a monk, is his proper range, his own ancestral territory? The four establishings of mindfulness." This app is maintained by the DhammaBytes contributors. We welcome feedback and help with translating the app into other languages. Please contact us at contact@dhammabytes.org