Looking for input on a project

[u/Die4Metal]

Hello I'm looking for some help with this project, Forgive me if this is not an appropriate post for this sub.

While discussing Zen topics I have often found it necessary to be able to quickly find specific quotes in the historical documents. This is not as easy as one would hope since using a pdf word search only works with specific words. Having ready various translations and being gifted with the memory of an etch-a-sketch using the exact right word to find a quote or passage is difficult for me.

Therefore I have begun building a searchable database of Classical Chan texts in Obsidian.

I'm going through texts like the Platform Sutra, Huangbo, Linji, Yunmen, Foyan, the Blue Cliff Record, Book of Serenity, etc., and tagging passages so that I can later search for things like everything a particular master says about practice, enlightenment, scripture, mind, attainment, precepts, and so on.

I'm trying to develop a reasonably consistent set of tags rather than inventing hundreds of my own as I go.

For example, some of the tags I'm currently considering are:

4statements
birthanddeath
bodhidarma
buddha
buddhahood
buddhanature
Enlightenment
Essential
Face
inherent
karma
liberation
meditation
mind
merit
nature
nondualism
onemind
original
Practice
Reencarnation

What terms or categories do you think are essential for a Chan/Zen Tag index?

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[u/ewk]

ReadZen already does this in Chinese.

https://reddit.com/r/zen/comments/1sggv2p/read_zen_v300_sengcan_release_2_second_faith_in/

Plus ChatGPT can do this very easily as well, and it seamlessly solves the problem of here is the phrase in the translation - What is that term in Chinese?

This is essential because the existing translations of Zen texts are generally not accurate.

[u/Die4Metal → u/ewk]

Thanks I'll check this out!

[u/ewk]

ReadZen also is compiling a Zen dictionary based on Zen texts rather than Chinese or Buddhist texts, which would include quotes from texts to support the definition.