A memorable epigraph goes here
using preformatted text — 
if it's in  
	   verse.

Contents

Preface

This is the preface. Notice that the up-arrow image width= and height= parameters are specificed. The img's href takes you to the table of contents. The href associated with the img at the table of contents takes you to the top of the page.

This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface. This is the preface.

Some authors like to "sign" their prefaces, intros, etc., with a little tagline, like this:

Introduction

This is the introduction. This is the introduction. This is the introduction. This is the introduction. This is the introduction.

And now, here's a quoted prose passage from a sutta:

And this is a quoted sutta verse:

Like all sutta verses,
it uses preformatted text
to give us better control over
	   indents.
and vertical


	       space.

Notice how the sutta citations appear in different places on the page, depending on whether the passage is prose or verse. And now we've reached the end of the introduction.

Chapter One
The Journey Begins

This is a major division of the work — say, a chapter. Each major division is bounded by full-width horizontal rules. Again, note that the little up-arrow takes you to the TOC, not to the top of the page.

Chapter Two
The Journey Continues

This chapter is more complex, with deeper layers of organization.

Section A

This section is bounded by two partial-width horizontal rules ("minibar"). Note that the href on its up-arrow takes you to the beginning of this chapter. This illustrates my overall concept of navigational links: wherever you are, you should be able to click your way back (or "up" or "out") one level at a time. This helps the user stay oriented.

Section B

This is a more complex section, with further subdivisions.

1. A finer division

When we start getting down to this level, we drop the navigational arrows, as it gets too fussy otherwise. And not every section is listed in the TOC. Use your discretion.

Notice that we don't set off this section with a horizontal rule. Too many rules make life difficult. Now let's dig down into deeper sections.

a. First point

Now we're getting down to the nitty-gritty. 1 Dividing a complex document into sections, subsections, sub-subsections, etc., can be useful. If overused, however, obsessive sub-dividing can be visually fragmenting and downright annoying. Not everyone is a lawyer or engineer. Not everyone — whether author or reader — likes to have his thoughts hierarchically regimented this way. So use it with discretion.

b. Second point

In this template I've numbered and lettered each section, sub-section, etc., for clarity. But in a real book or article, you'd rarely want to be so obsessively organized. I've also labeled the anchors in this template so as to reveal the hierarchy. Again, in the real world you'd probably give the anchors names with more transparent meaning.

2. Another fine division

a. First point

Imagine some uplifting text here. O fortuna, velut luna, status variabilis. E to the x, dy dx! E to the x, dx! Nunc obdurat, et tunc curat. Imagine some uplifting text here. Imagine some uplifting text here. I'll get you, my pretty — and your little dog, too! Imagine some uplifting text here. Imagine some uplifting text here.

b. Second point

Imagine some uplifting text here. Call me Ishmael. It was the best of times. Imagine some uplifting text here. Imagine some uplifting text here. Open the pod bay doors, HAL. Imagine some uplifting text here. Imagine some uplifting text here.

Section C

More text goes here. Twas brillig. Of man's first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all our woe. Beauty is truth, truth beauty. That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.

Chapter Three
The End in Sight

...etc...2

Let's talk about lists. The appearance of lists is determined by the context. I implement these list at the div level, which means that all nested lists within it will have the same format. It also lends support to the notion of giving semantic meaning to classes (what's the semantic meaning of a list??). This is useful. But I chose this route not because I'm clever, but because I couldn't figure out how to get nested lists of different classes to work properly.

"gloss":

This style is more compact. It works well for long lists of brief items, or long lists of items each of which have the same "look". It's used in the table of contents of this document.

It works for glossaries:

• bhante [bhante]: Venerable sir; often used when addressing a Buddhist monk.
• bhava [bhava]: Becoming. States of being that develop first in the mind and can then be experienced as internal worlds and/or as worlds on an external level. There are three levels of becoming: on the sensual level, the level of form, and the level of formlessness.
• bhavana [bhaavanaa]: Mental cultivation or development; meditation. The third of the three grounds for meritorious action. See also dana and sila.

It works well for TOCs:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
  • 2.1
  • 2.2
    • subsection a
    • subsection b
    • subsection c
  • 2.3
• Chapter 3

It works for long lists of suttas:

• MN 107: Ganaka-Moggallana Sutta — The Discourse to Ganaka-Moggallana {M iii 1} [Horner]. The Buddha sets forth the gradual training of the Buddhist monk and describes himself as a "shower of the way." [BB]
• MN 108: Gopaka-Moggallana Sutta — Moggallana the Guardsman {M iii 7} [Thanissaro]. Ven. Ananda explains how the Sangha maintains its unity and internal discipline after the passing away of the Buddha. [BB] Interestingly, this sutta also shows that early Buddhist practice had no room for many practices that developed in later Buddhist traditions, such as appointed lineage holders, elected ecclesiastical heads, or the use of mental defilements as a basis for concentration practice. [TB]
• MN 109: Maha-punnama Sutta — The Great Full-moon Night Discourse {M iii 15} [Thanissaro]. A thorough discussion of issues related to the five aggregates. Toward the end of the discussion, a monk thinks that he has found a loophole in the teaching. The way the Buddha handles this incident shows the proper use of the teachings on the aggregates: not as a metaphysical theory, but as a tool for questioning clinging and so gaining release. [TB]