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In the spring of 1995, Professor Shih, Heng-ching and various professors of National Taiwan University established “The Center for Buddhist Studies." The objectives of the Center aim to aid those who study Buddhism by putting in touch experts and scholars within and outside the university, in order to promote in-depth inquiry into the specific properties, historical development, values, and modern interpretations of Buddhism. In addition to academic research, collecting research information on Buddhism is also the main focus.
In the light of this, we began efforts to establish the "Buddhist Digital Library & Museum" at the same year. “BDLM” is a scholarly database seeking to fulfill the afore mentioned need by promoting both integrative and interdisciplinary research, and providing the means for efficient international academic exchange of information. By taking the advantage of technology, the database commits itself to the promotion of the Buddhist studies by disseminating via an electronic medium in-depth information and writings generously contributed by dedicated and reputable scholars, researchers, academic (institutions,) institutes and Buddhist organizations worldwide.
In October 1999, this database became a joint-project for Dharma Drum Mountain (Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies) and National Taiwan University (Center for Buddhist Studies) so that the content of the database and service area can expand even more. To support scholars worldwide, researchers, and related Buddhist organizations, NTU is dedicated to implement this project in its first phase.
After website's content and foundation are stabilized, this cooperation had officially concluded on 31 March 2003. The National Taiwan University Library took over the responsibility of maintaining this site in the second phase from 1 April 2003. Moreover, with the aim of emphasizing Buddhist Studies and creating an easier access for the users, “DLMBS” moved to http://buddhism.lib.ntu.edu.tw/BDLM/index.htm. In order to emphasize Buddhist Studies and create an easier access for the users, the NTU Library not only includes Buddhist studies in several languages, but put an effort on website’s structuring and usability for the users.
In 2006, the project was brought to the third phase with the support of Principal Lee, pushing it to another peak. We made efforts in strengthening the function and service of the SEARCH ENGINE, displaying the academic diversity of research achievements through bibliography, journals, and electronic books, and providing digital Buddhist texts in many languages for users to download.
The project has established more than
15 years, and has obtained many favorable comments. It remains to be the widest and the most complete Buddhist database in most languages. It also has the fastest and the most convenient search engine heavily relied on by people in the academic and Buddhist field worldwide. We owe our success to every related institute, organization, scholar, and user, for all of your support and encouragement. Up to the present, the “Museum” section also has grown remarkably in Buddhist information. In the other hand, the “Library” section holds over
200,000 bibliographies and provides over
14,000 full-texts on various subjects for free access and download, providing
53 kinds of online research tools,
146 international institutes of Buddhist Studies,
442 related links. We have also acquired more than
7 kinds of digital scriptures such as “Taisho Tripitaka”, “卍 Xuzangjing”, “Chien-Lung Tripitaka”, “Yongle Tripitaka”, “Tibetan Tripitaka”, “Pali Tipitaka”,
“Tibetan Tripitaka translated into Chinese version”. According to the average statistics, our visitors come from over
192 countries, and the site receives
120 thousand visitors per month,
670 thousand of pages visited and
2,100 thousand total hits. These data fully demonstrate the high International visibility of “DLMBS”.
The NTU College of Liberal Arts appointed Jieh, Hsiang, the director of NTU Research Center for Digital Humanities and NTU PRESS, to be the principle investigator and take over the responsibility of maintaining this site from 2009 onwards formally. We are looking forward to expand the Buddhist database content and specialty service continuously on the basis of past
15 years and the new partnership of the
2 senior institutes. Please continue your support for this website by sharing your works or relevant information with us to help us strive to promote the network of Buddhist resource-sharing together.
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