These notes are intended for my own use; I refer to them often. But just in case anyone else might find them useful, here they are.

Although I have found the traditional editorial tools (see the References) indispensable, the peculiarities of HTML and the idiosyncrasies of this website call for something more: hence this style sheet. These notes summarize some of the trickier points of style that I've had to address in my work on Access to Insight, plus a few basic matters of style that I always seem to forget.

Here and there I include references (in bold) to pertinent sections or pages in the References.

Text like this is an example that illustrates a point.

This style sheet is under constant development. Known errors (FIXMEs) are marked with special text.

Contents

Three principles to live by [go up]

1. Protect the integrity of the texts.

The superficial aspects of texts (layout, spelling, obviously misplaced commas, etc.) may be modified, but never the content, without the approval of the author or publisher.

Exception: When I extract individual suttas from books, I may remove the footnotes for ease of reading. There are always links from the suttas back to the books, where the original notes may be found. Compare, for example, Piyadassi Thera's translation of the Ratana Sutta as it appears in his book The Book of Protection with its appearance as an individual sutta. FIXME: This example doesn't link back to the book.

2. Consistency is the goal.

There are many different rules for spelling: American or British? brahmin or brahman? Nibbana or Nirvana?. Pick one or the other and stick to it. Mixing up styles distracts the reader. It is inexcusable for a single document to contain both "flavour" (British) and "color" (American).

3. Consistency doesn't have to be absolute.

This website includes texts from many different authors and publishers, each of whom has his or her preferred standards of style. Rather than try to blindly force everything into a single, unified style, I've instead tried to preserve consistency within each particular genre or category of texts: sutta translations tend to follow one style; books in the Buddhist Publication Society's Wheel series follow another; articles by the Thai forest ajaans follow another; and so on.

Spelling [go up]

Use American English spelling.

Use American English (color, flavor, practice, etc.) throughout (6.3CMS13). Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (W9) is usually my referee (see 6.1CMS13), although sometimes the OED is a helpful background tool. Where W9 gives two or more spellings for a word, I use the first (preferred) spelling. Spellings are never altered in proper names (e.g., "International Meditation Centre" and The Splendour of Enlightenment: A Life of the Buddha).

American
YES		 British
NO		 Notes and tips
arbor behavior color endeavor favor fervor flavor harbor honor humor labor odor savor splendor arbour behaviour colour endeavour favour fervour flavour harbour honour humour labour odour savour splendour Regexp search: [a-xz]our

Be careful when making global changes — you don't want to change devour, nourish, flourish, etc. And watch for prefixes and suffixes (dis-, un-, -able, -ite, -ing, -ably, etc.).
practice practise  
analyze analyse Beware of analyses (pl. of analysis)
authorize characterize criticize memorize authorise characterise criticise memorise Search for oris.
skillful fulfill skilful fulfil  
center centering luster meager meter centre centring lustre meagre metre Be careful with global changes: changing *centre* to *center* would change centred to centerd!
check checkered cheque chequered  
learned learnt  
plow plough  
Other words to watch out for:
  • ajaan (not ajarn, ajahn, achaan, etc.)
  • arahant (not arahat, arhat). Arahant is consistent with the Pali root form.
  • archaeology, (not archeology) (W9)
  • Awakening is capitalized only when specifically referring to the enlightenment experience (bodhi):
    • "a factor for Awakening" (MN 118)
    • "Before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta" (MN 4)
    • "I describe this as an awakening to the truth" (MN 95)
    • "Directly awakening & breaking through to that" (SN 12.20)
  • brahman (not brahmin, as preferred by W9).

    Ajaan Geoff (Thanissaro) has pointed out that brahman (a member of the Hindu priestly caste) is more sensible since it's more akin to the Pali brahmana from which the English word is derived. According to the OED2: "The form Brahmin, a corruption of the Indian vernacular pronunciation, is still all but universal in popular use; during the present century Orientalists have adopted the more correct Brahman, which (often written Brâhman or Bráhman) is employed by most writers on India." Admittedly, that OED entry was written a long time ago (probably in the early part of the 20th century), but until someone can make a compelling case in favor of brahmin, I'll stick with brahman.

    According to the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Brahman and Brahma are alternate spellings of the word for the Hindu Absolute (the dictionary prefers Brahman). Interestingly, however, OED2 does not even allow Brahman as an alternate spelling of Brahma. No wonder there's so much confusion: even the great lexicographer's can't agree how to spell the word! To summarize: at Access to Insight, there is Brahma (the Hindu Absolute, etc.) and there is brahman (the priest). There are no brahmins here.

  • catalog, but dialogue, epilogue, prologue (W9)
  • diagrammed (W9)
  • e-mail (not E-mail or email) (W10)
  • equaled (one l) (W10)
  • "a historical" (not "an historical"). (6.49CMS13)

    Some authors claim that "an historical" avoids confusion with the word ahistorical, but I stick with CMS13.

  • loving-kindness (hyphenated) (W10)
  • online, offline (not per W10, which has both hyphenated; follow MWO instead)
  • Pali canon (not Pali Canon)
  • quarreled, quarreler, quarreling (W9)
  • Stages of awakening are generally not capitalized:
    • stream-entry, stream-winner — always hyphenated. Upon encountering "The fourth stream entry factor" the reader might pause to wonder what that fourth stream is. "The fourth stream-entry factor" removes the ambiguity.
    • once-return, once-returner
    • non-return, non-returner — no hyphen (Contrary to CMS15 7.90.3 (p. 307); it just looks funny without it, esp. when it appears near once-return.)
    • arahantship, arahant
  • tranquillity (W9)
  • traveled, traveler, traveling (W9)
  • Theravadan is both the adjective (of or relating to Theravada) and the person (one who follows the teachings of Theravada). Thus: "The Theravadan woman visited the Theravadan monastery." Do not use Theravadin.
  • website (one word — not web site or web-site)

    There is no consensus yet on the "correct" spelling of this word. There are good arguments either way: website would find good company alongside other familiar contractions, such as bandwagon, heartbeat, and meatball, while web site is consistent with band shell, heart attack, and meat locker. I can't think of any good examples of hyphenated compound nouns that might lend support to web-site (heart-like and meat-flavored don't count, as each one is built from a noun plus an adjectival combining form). Some people prefer Web site (capitalized), in deference to "World Wide Web" (always capitalized). But I prefer the simple, unadorned, compactness of website. Time will tell.

Geek note:To hunt down British spellings, commas outside quotes, etc., scattered across the website I use a rudimentary typo detector and spell checker. Its associated list of suspect words and word fragments contains my most up-to-date list of variant spellings.

Pali [go up]

Pali style depends on context.
Some ATI booklets use only familiar Pali or Sanskrit terms (Dhamma, Karma, Nibbana, etc.), while others draw from a wider palette (dana, sila, tanha, etc.). Still others use Pali compounds and phrases (e.g., viññanakkhandha, vipassana-ñana, Buddham saranam gacchami). And most make reference to canonical and extra-canonical texts by name, as well as to Pali proper names. When should Pali words be italicized? When are diacritics important?

It all depends on context. An informal essay treats Pali in one way. A chanting guide calls for another style. And articles containing detailed explorations of the etymology and meaning of Pali phrases call for something else altogether.

Pali words appear on this website in either of two forms: (1) "stripped" form, in which the diacritical marks are omitted (except for the palatal nasal ñ); and (2) Velthuis form, which is summarized here:

Two basic rules are observed: (1) long vowels are doubled: aa ii uu. (2) For consonants, the diacritic mark precedes the letter it affects. Thus, the retroflex (cerebral) consonants (usually typeset with a dot underneath) are: .t .th .d .dh .n .l. The pure nasal m (niggahiita; typeset with a dot underneath) is .m. The guttural nasal (n with a dot above) is represented by "n . The palatal nasal (n with a tilde) is ~n. Example: paa.naatipaataa verama.nii sikkhaa-pada.m samaadiyaami.

The particular Pali style is determined by the type of article or book. The style should be consistent throughout the entire document, or at least within its major sections.

Type 1: Non-technical articles.
Articles that don't rely heavily on Pali terminology use a relaxed Pali style:
  • Familiar Pali words. Important doctrinal terms that have entered popular culture, are familiar to every Buddhist, or that are likely to be found in an English dictionary, may be capitalized and set in roman type (7.54CMS15). They are always in stripped form. These words include: Dhamma, Dukkha, Kamma, Nibbana, Pali, Samsara, Sangha (the refuge), Vipassana (the school of meditation based on Mahasi Sayadaw's teachings), etc.
  • Less-familiar Pali words. Doctrinal terms that don't quite rise to the level of popularity or centrality as the above should be stripped, uncapitalized, and set in roman type. These may include: anatta, anicca, avijja, dana, sila, tanha, vipassana (insight), etc. If these words appear only sparingly in the document, and do not themselves play a central part in the discussion, consider italicizing them throughout.
  • Sutta titles and proper names: usually stripped for ease of indexing and searching. Always set in roman.

Examples:

The first step in that solution is symbolized in the Siddhartha story by the prince's reaction to the fourth person he saw on his travels outside of the palace: the wandering forest contemplative. The emotion he felt at this point is termed pasada, another complex set of feelings usually translated as "clarity and serene confidence." It's what keeps samvega from turning into despair.

— Thanissaro Bhikkhu, in "Affirming the Truths of the Heart"

Ñanamoli (not ~Naa.namoli)
Thanissaro (not .Thaanissaro)
Maha-satipatthana Sutta (not Mahaa-satipa.t.thaana Sutta)

Type 2: Articles containing brief Pali technical discussions.
In articles involving brief linguistic or technical discussions, use the stripped form, except on first occurrence, when the Velthuis form is also given in square brackets. Pali words may either be italicized throughout or only on first occurrence, depending on the particular text. (7.55CMS15 recommends first occurrence italics, which is manageable in simple or short documents. But keeping track of first occurrences in complex documents can quickly become an editor's nightmare.) Sutta titles and proper names are stripped and set in roman type.

The virtue of mudita [muditaa], i.e., finding joy in the happiness and success of others, has not received sufficient attention either in expositions of Buddhist ethics, or in the meditative development of the four sublime states (brahma-vihara [brahma-vihaara]), of which mudita is one.

— Nyanaponika Thera, in "Is Unselfish Joy Practicable?"

If the appearance of bracketed Velthuis Pali would disrupt the readability of the document, it may instead be embedded as comments, tagged thus:

<-- VVV satipa.t.thaana VVV -->

The HTML source for the preceding example with commented Velthuis would look like this:

The virtue of <i>mudita,</i> <!-- VVV muditaa VVV --> i.e., finding joy in the happiness and success of others, has not received sufficient attention either in expositions of Buddhist ethics, or in the meditative development of the four sublime states <i>(brahma-vihara),</i> <!-- VVV brahma-vihaara VVV --> of which mudita is one.

and would render like this:

The virtue of mudita, i.e., finding joy in the happiness and success of others, has not received sufficient attention either in expositions of Buddhist ethics, or in the meditative development of the four sublime states (brahma-vihara), of which mudita is one.

The over-arching idea here is to preserve the diacritical information that accompanies manuscripts published on ATI. Someday someone will be able to make good use of even the commented diacritics.

Type 3: Articles containing extensive Pali technical discussions.
Use italicized Velthuis throughout. Sutta titles and proper names use Velthuis and are set in roman type.

Buddhism describes the characteristics of all things in three statements: Sabbe sa"nkhaaraa aniccaa, sabbe sa"nkhaaraa dukkhaa, sabbe dhammaa anattaa, meaning all conditioned things are impermanent, all conditioned things are unsatisfactory, all phenomena are non-self.100 Here the change of terminology in the last statement seems important. The Sa.myutta Commentary explains the last statement as: Sabbe dhammaa anattaa ti sabbe catubhuumakaa dhammaa.101 The Visuddhimagga explains the four bhuumis or planes as kaamaavacara, ruupaavacara, aruupaavacara, and lokuttara, meaning...

— Lily de Silva, in "Nibbana as Living Experience"

Type 4: Pali chanting guides.
Use Velthuis throughout. Either Pali or English may be italicized.

Kammassakomhi kamma-daayaado kamma-yoni kamma-bandhu kamma-pa.tisara.no. Ya.m kamma.m karissaami kalyaa.na.m vaa paapaka.m vaa tassa daayaado bhavissaamiiti.

I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.

— from the Ten Reflections in "A Chanting Guide"

Keep sutta titles readable
If a sutta title contains a long compound word that should be broken, break the word with hyphens (not spaces) and keep in lower case:

Maha-satipatthana Sutta (not Maha Satipatthana or Maha-Satipatthana)
Cula-kammavibhanga Sutta (not Cula Kammavibhanga or Cula-Kammavibhanga)

When the title contains a proper noun, use hyphens and capitalize the name:

Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta (not Cula-malunkyovada Sutta)
Maha-Saccaka Sutta (not Maha-saccaka Sutta)
Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta (not Aggi-vacchagotta Sutta)

Alphabetization [go up]

Punctuation [go up]

Quotation mark order is " ' " ' ... (10.24CMS13)
Nested quotes are first double, then single, then double, etc. . The back quote (`) is never used for a left single quote. No spaces between quote marks. Commas and periods are always inside quote marks. (6.8CMS15)

Exceptions: (1) If including the punctuation inside the quote marks would introduce some sort of ambiguity, then keep that punctuation outside the quote marks. For example, if a filename containing a period is quoted, any following punctuation should appear after the closing quote mark. (e.g., Download the file "bulk.zip". — not Download the file "bulk.zip.") (2) If a sentence ends with an ellipsis in quotes, the final period is omitted.

Be it a pleasant feeling, be it a painful feeling, be it neutral, one's own or others', feelings of all kinds [SN 36.2; It's an apostrophe, not a quotation mark!]

The discussion in the four paragraphs beginning with the phrase, "Vision arose...," takes two sets of variables [SN 46.11]

To avoid misunderstanding it is better to be quite specific, such as — "Bhante, if you need any more food...," "If you need a new pair of sandals..." Unless specified an invitation can only be accepted for up to four months. [The Bhikkhus' Rules: A Guide for Laypeople; The period is omitted before "Unless" because of the preceding ellipsis.]

Neither a . (except for an abbreviating one) nor a , ever accompanies a ? or a ! (6.123CMS15)

WRONG: Then the Blessed One uttered the exclamation: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!," and that is how [SN 46.11]

BETTER: Then the Blessed One uttered the exclamation: "Kondañña knows! Kondañña knows!" — and that is how [SN 46.11]

en dash (5.92ffCMS13)
Use one hyphen with no spaces.
em dash (5.82ffCMS13)
Use the &emdash; entity surrounded by single spaces. Leading space is omitted when the dash appears at the beginning of a line (e.g., at the beginning of a line in a block quote). Simulation of the em dash as " -- " is DEPRECATED.
Ellipsis (10.38CMS13)
Always use three points (...), never four. Never use the &hellip; entity, as it complicates text searches. The ellipsis immediately follows the last letter or punctuation mark, and is usually followed by a single space. When the ellipsis begins a quote or paragraph, it is not followed by a space.

"He directly knows water as water... fire as fire... wind as wind..." [MN 1]

"Then does Master Gotama hold the view: 'The cosmos is finite: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless'?"

"...no..." [MN 72]

"...'after death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist'... does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation; to calm, direct knowledge, full awakening, Unbinding." [MN 72]

Complex ellipsis constructions in nested quotes should be avoided, in the interest of readability. (This is not addressed in CMS.)

POOR: "'The cosmos is eternal. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless,' is a viewpoint. 'The cosmos is not eternal...'... 'The cosmos is finite...'...'The cosmos is infinite...'...'The soul & the body are the same...'...'The soul is one thing and the body another...'...'After death a Tathagata exists...'...'After death a Tathagata does not exist...'...'After death a Tathagata both does & does not exist...'...'After death a Tathagata neither does nor does not exist. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless,' is a viewpoint. The extent to which there are viewpoints, view-stances, the taking up of views, obsessions of views, the cause of views, & the uprooting of views: that's what I know. That's what I see. Knowing that, I say 'I know.' Seeing that, I say 'I see.' Why should I say 'I don't know, I don't see'? I do know. I do see." [AN 10.96]

BETTER: "'The cosmos is eternal. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless,' is a viewpoint. 'The cosmos is not eternal... The cosmos is finite... The cosmos is infinite... The soul & the body are the same... The soul is one thing and the body another... After death a Tathagata exists... After death a Tathagata does not exist... After death a Tathagata both does & does not exist... After death a Tathagata neither does nor does not exist. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless,' is a viewpoint. The extent to which there are viewpoints, view-stances, the taking up of views, obsessions of views, the cause of views, & the uprooting of views: that's what I know. That's what I see. Knowing that, I say 'I know.' Seeing that, I say 'I see.' Why should I say 'I don't know, I don't see'? I do know. I do see." [AN 10.96]

I.e. and e.g. (PTO98 and 5.54CMS13)
Always followed by a comma.

File names [go up]

File names are lowercase.
This prevents an entire class of bad links. Example: is it "Samma-Ditthi.html" or "Samma-ditthi.html"? It's always "samma-ditthi.html."
File names contain only a-z, 0-9, - and .
Do not use underscores (_), as these disappear in underlined and hyperlink text. (Example: can you_see the_underscores here? Can_you see_them here?)
Sutta file names have intrinsic standalone meaning.
Sutta file names contain a translator code.
For more about sutta file names, see "ATI Tipitaka Filename Convention".

White space [go up]

Use minimal white space.
Avoid the use of leading or trailing white space (spaces or tabs). Blank lines should be added sparingly, and only to the extent needed to make the HTML source readable. Big exception: Preformatted text!
Tabs are used only two ways:
(1) To make HTML source more readable; and (2) to control layout in preformatted text. The use of three consecutive non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;), followed by a space, to simulate tabs is DEPRECATED.
Vertical spacing.
Use styles to control vertical white space. The use of <p><br /></p> or the like to simulate blank lines is DEPRECATED.

Suttas [go up]

For html details, see the sutta template.

Number suttas using the PTS as a guide.
See "Sutta Reference Numbers" in the Abbreviations for details.
Entries in the index.html files have a standard format.
Simple: PALI NAME (REFERENCE NUMBER) — ENGLISH NAME [TRANSLATOR]. BLURB.

Complex: PALI NAME (REFERENCE NUMBER) — ENGLISH NAME {ALTERNATE REFERENCE NUMBER} [TRANSLATOR1 | TRANSLATOR2 | ...]. BLURB. {ADDITIONAL NOTE}

Examples:

Subheadings use CSS styles.

For examples, see DN 12 and MN 125.

...Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa.

This is a Subheading

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa.Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa.

This is a Subheading

This is a Sub-subheading

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa...

Translator's Introduction
A "long" note (say, longer than a ¶ or two) is a "Translator's Introduction" (e.g., MN 1):

Translator's Introduction

Here is a long chunk of introductory text for this sutta...

Translator's Note
A "short" note (a short ¶ or two) is a "Translator's note (e.g., MN 44):
Translator's note: Here is a short bit of introductory text for this sutta...
Interpolations

Brief interpolations are set off in square brackets:

Then Anathapindika the householder left Savatthi in the middle of the day to see the Blessed One, but the thought then occurred to him, "Now is not the right time to see the Blessed One, for he is in seclusion. And it is not the right time to see the monks who are developing their minds [in meditation], for they are in seclusion. What if I were to visit the park of the wanderers of other persuasions?" [AN 10.93]

Comments by the translator that aren't worthy of footnoting are italicized and set off in parens:

When this had been said, Anathapindika the householder said to the wanderers, "As for the venerable one who says, 'The cosmos is eternal. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless. This is the sort of view I have,' his view arises from his own inappropriate attention or in dependence on the words of another. Now this view has been brought into being, is fabricated, willed, dependently originated. Whatever has been brought into being, is fabricated, willed, dependently originated, that is inconstant. Whatever is inconstant is stress. This venerable one thus adheres to that very stress, submits himself to that very stress." (Similarly for the other positions.) [AN 10.93]

"This too, householder, is a single quality declared by the Blessed One — the one who knows, the one who sees, worthy & rightly self-awakened — where the unreleased mind of a monk who dwells there heedful, ardent, & resolute becomes released, or his unended fermentations go to their total ending, or he attains the unexcelled security from the yoke that he had not attained before.

(Similarly with the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness and the dimension of nothingness.) [AN 11.17]

Miscellany [go up]

Keep HTML simple and consistent.
Use HTML 4.01 Transitional. Keep it clean and consistent because:
  1. Simple HTML simplifies managing and debugging a large website.
  2. Simple HTML creates fewer browser-compatibility issues.
  3. These texts are meant to be read. There's no need to spice them up with all the latest HTML bells and whistles.
  4. Consistent HTML makes global changes easier.
HTML anchors follow the same conventions as filenames.
NO YES
index.html#Ananda index.html#ananda
index.html#Samma-Ditthi index.html#samma-ditthi
index.html#samma_ditthi index.html#samma-ditthi
Style markup goes inside hrefs.
Keeping the markup inside the links allows for easier editing, should I want to change the look later on.
NO YES
... <b><a href="foobar.html">click here</a></b> ... ... <a href="foobar.html"><b>click here</b></a> ...
In the left-hand example, if I decide later on to make only the word "here" bold, I'd have to move both the <b> and the </b> tags. In the other example, I'd have to move only one tag. (The downside, of course, is that this way it's harder to shift the clickable text: I'd have to move two tags to click on the word "here." But I'm probably more likely later on to want to tweak the appearance than the clickable text.)
Italicized text includes adjacent punctuation.
This avoids some ugly typographical collisions — especially between letters and parens.
NO YES
It is stream-winning (sotapatti).
It is stream-winning (<i>sotapatti</i>).		 It is stream-winning (sotapatti).
It is stream-winning <i>(sotapatti).</i>
Block quotations are not quoted.
Block quotations (usually verse), are not enclosed by quotation marks, since the context usually makes clear that it is an utterance (10.28CMS13). Where there is a dialogue taking place within the verse, however, quote marks are used.

If square brackets are used to attribute a verse passage, the attribution should be italicized. Example (SN 9.6):

They don't know bliss
who haven't seen Nandana,
abode of the eminent devas,
	glorious,
of the Thirty-three.
[Ven. Anuruddha:] 
You fool, don't you know
the arahants' maxim? —
...
Endnotes, not footnotes.
Notes appear at the bottom of page, except in anthologies of sutta passages and a few other situations wherein it's useful for the notes to appear immediately after each passage. If there is only one note use "Note."

Remember to leave no space before the note tag,1 and to put if after any punctuation.

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato
	Samma sambuddhassa
In preformatted text there is a space before the tag 2
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato
...
Notes

1. To return quickly to the text, just click on this note's number.

2. Without the space the text gets cluttered.

Endnote tags come after all punctuation.
Endnote tags always come immediately after any punctuation, in a style determined by CSS. When they occur in preformatted text they are preceded by a space and enclosed in square brackets (preformatted text can't include markup).
"See also" comes at the end of the document.
Use "See also" rather than "Related reading."

In suttas:

See also: SN 5.7; SN 6.15

In Indexes:

See also Buddha; Nibbana.

Abbreviate "translator" with "trans." and "editor" with "ed." (16.24CMS13)

The Lion's Roar: Two Discourses of Buddha (Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, trans.; Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed.; BPS WH 390, 1993)

Titles of books, essays, and chapters
Book titles in indexes are italicized. Essays or chapters from books are put in "quotation marks."
Short tables use 5 points.
Use five consecutive points to simulate tabs in short lists or tables of items:
AN ..... Anguttara Nikaya
MN ..... Majjhima Nikaya
SN ..... Samyutta Nikaya
Vism ..... Visuddhimagga
Glossary entries are bold.
Abhidhamma (Pitaka): The third of the three collections forming the Pali canon...
Arahant: A "worthy one" or "pure one," i.e., a person whose heart no longer...
Sign all comments.
When embedding comments in HTML text, use the <!-- ... --> tags, and "sign" the comment with my initials and the date in yymmdd format:
<!-- jtb 010203 This is my comment, which is dated Feb 3, '01. -->

In my comments "AG" refers to Ajaan Geoff (a.k.a. Thanissaro Bhikkhu).

References