The Digital Pāli Reader is a tool much like a hard-copy language reader. The tool includes the Pāli canon and related scriptures. It includes multiple dictionaries to facilitate reading the scriptures. In addition to enabling an immersive experience for the study of the Tipitaka, it is also useful in the study of the Pāli language at an advanced level. The Digital Pāli Reader is used by Buddhist monks in their Pāli studies, at Universities around the world and by lay users for study at home.
Here is our guide to the program:
The DPR differs from an ordinary reader in several respects:
- The DPR allows for instant lookup of words, simply by clicking on a word
in the passage being read. This avoids time spent looking for the word
in a hard-copy dictionary or in another place on one’s computer. - The DPR has a built in search function similar to that of the CSCD. Whereas the CSCD allows for only global searches or searches of entire pitakas, the DPR provides Nikaya and Book searches as well.
- The dictionary files in the DPR were not designed specifically for the
purpose at hand, and of course word-to-definition matches are sometimes incorrect
due to imperfect
analysis. - The DPR includes several dictionaries: Pali-English, English-Pali, Pali proper names, and Concise Pali Dictionary. These dictionaries can be directly accessed from the control panel.
- The DPR has several useful auxiliary utilities, including:
- bookmark and quote clipboard for keeping important passages
- A Pali conversion utility that converts to and from Velthius, Unicode, and other scripts
- Random English quotes from Buddhavacana, by S. Dhammika
While the DPR is far from perfect, it is sure to be useful for intermediate Pali students who wish to advance their studies to a higher level.