[Buddha-l] Capitalisation of Buddhist Terms

['o-Dzin Tridral]

Dear people,

I have receive a query from someone who is editing a translation of a
Buddhist text, and they would like to know whether there are rules or
guidelines relating to capitalisation of words.

There query is:

Let's start with D/dharma and the variations on Buddha (e.g.,
B/buddhahood, B/buddha-vehicle, B/buddha-nature, B/buddhadharma/
B/buddha-realms).  Then there are the teachings (e.g., E/eightfold P/path,
S/six P/perfections, T/ten P/precepts, F/four T/truths).  And the O/one
V/vehicle, T/two V/vehicles, T/three V/vehicles.

I'm inclined to follow the lower-case preferences of the _Chicago Manual
of Style_ for almost everything except "the Buddha."  But in some
Christian religious publications, items that _Chicago_ would have lower
case (e.g., the ten commandments) are capped.  I just don't know the
preferences in the Buddhist world.  The ideal is to cap only proper nouns,
not to cap something to show "importance" or "respect."

I would appreciate any reference to the correct capitalisation of Buddhist
terms.

best regards,

'ö-Dzin


-- 
'ö-Dzin Tridral | tridral at gmail.com | http://twitter.com/tridral
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