Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka In Digital Age

'A Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka for the 21st Century: The Development of the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon'.

By Miroj Shakya, Ph.d Candidate University of the West Project Manager Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon Project

Ab str ac t The paper focus on the project called DSBC on formation of the Sanskrit Buddhist Tripitaka by exploring extant Sanskrit Buddhist printed texts through last centuries. To make this dream project a reality, Prof. Lewis R. Lancaster, former President of University of the West and coordinator of the project, initiated cooperation with Nagarjuna Institute in Nepal in digitizing the Sanskrit Buddhist Canon since the year 2003. The Sanskrit Tripitaka could be made easily accessible to all.We are accelerating our work by broadening our support and applying the latest computer technology. Currently we have placed 62 Sutras, 108 Stotras, and 87 Shastra texts online. Now, for the first time in history, the basic texts of Indian Buddhism are accessible freely downloadable via the internet: http://www.uwest.edu/sanskritcanon/ The availability of all the Sanskrit Buddhist texts online will be an important milestone in Buddhist scholarship, and will make this immensely useful to educators and non-specialists. However much effort and support will be needed to meet this distant goal.