{"id":30916,"date":"2024-10-09T17:27:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T09:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbeta.org\/history"},"modified":"2026-08-14T21:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T13:34:29","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cbeta.org\/en\/history","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

History<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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1996.03<\/div>
Buda-Tech Discussion Group<\/h6>

Jointly established by members of the National Taiwan University Lion\u2019s Roar BBS and the National Sun Yat-sen University Deer Park Buddhist BBS, this forum was dedicated to discussing digital Buddhist text issues. Mr. Tseng Guo-Feng (\u66fe\u570b\u8c50) set up a mailing list for participants, laying the foundation for much of the electronic Buddhist textual data and technology available today.<\/p>

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1996.03<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1997.10<\/div>
Draft Plan for the Input of the Electronic Tripitaka<\/h6>

A Buda-Tech user drafted a plan for inputting the Electronic Tripitaka, marking the beginning of systematic textual data entry.<\/p>

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1997.10<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1997.11<\/div>
Electronic Buddhist Texts Working Group (EBTWG)<\/h6>

Founded by Hsu Yan-Hui (\u5f90\u8a00\u8f1d) and several friends, this group primarily used optical character recognition (OCR) technology to systematically generate electronic text files based on the Fojiao Dazangjing (\u4f5b\u6559\u5927\u85cf\u7d93).<\/p>

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1997.11<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1997.11<\/div>
CCCII-Encoded Digital Edition of the Taish\u014d Tripitaka<\/h6>

Mr. Hsiao Chen-kuo (\u856d\u93ae\u570b) provided 25 volumes of the Taish\u014d Tripitaka (\u5927\u6b63\u85cf) in CCCII-encoded electronic format and authorized the Center for Buddhist Studies at National Taiwan University to conduct further processing. (Mr. Hsiao later provided the digitized files for all remaining volumes of the Taish\u014d Tripitaka.)<\/p>

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1997.11<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1997.11<\/div>
25T Group, NTU Center for Buddhist Studies<\/h6>

Led by the Center for Buddhist Studies at National Taiwan University, this group was responsible for processing the 25 volumes of the Taish\u014d Tripitaka provided by Mr. Hsiao Chen-kuo, launching a large-scale project to digitize the Buddhist canon. (This group was the predecessor of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association.)<\/p>

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1997.11<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1998.01<\/div>
Rare Characters Task Force<\/h6>

To thoroughly address rare and missing characters (gaiji) in Buddhist texts, the 25T Group established this task force in collaboration with the Institute of Information Science at Academia Sinica (\u4e2d\u592e\u7814\u7a76\u9662\u8cc7\u8a0a\u79d1\u5b78\u7814\u7a76\u6240). <\/p>

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1998.01<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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1998.02.15<\/div>
Establishment of the \u201cChinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association\u201d<\/h6>

Venerable Hengching (\u91cb\u6046\u6e05) of the National Taiwan University Center for Buddhist Studies raised the necessary funds; with full backing from the Yin-Shun Foundation of North America (\u4e2d\u592e\u7814\u7a76\u9662\u8cc7\u8a0a\u79d1\u5b78\u7814\u7a76\u6240) and the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies (\u4e2d\u83ef\u4f5b\u5b78\u7814\u7a76\u6240), a preparatory meeting took place on February 15, 1998, at the Anhe Center of Dharma Drum Mountain to formally establish the \u201cChinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association\u201d (\u4e2d\u83ef\u96fb\u5b50\u4f5b\u5178\u5354\u6703, CBETA). Venerable Huimin (\u91cb\u60e0\u654f) served as Chairperson, Venerable Houguan (\u91cb\u539a\u89c0) as Vice Chairperson, Professor Aming Tu (\u675c\u6b63\u6c11) of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies as Secretary-General, Dr. Christian Wittern as Advisor, and Venerable Hengching as Standing Supervisor. <\/p>

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1998.02.15<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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2021.12<\/div>
Sustainable Development Issues<\/h6>

Chairperson Venerable Huimin raised the topic of sustainable development. Following discussions with Venerable Hengching, the Abbot of Dharma Drum Mountain, and other key figures, preparations began to establish a charitable foundation.<\/p>

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2021.12<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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2023.04.08<\/div>
Preparatory Meeting for Donors<\/h6>

Thanks to the generous support of all parties, a preparatory meeting for donors was held on April 8, 2023, where Venerable Guoyi, Venerable Huimin, Her Reysheng, David Chiou, Venerable Yuanwu, Venerable Shingyi, Venerable Fachi, Chen Guanghua, and Hung Jenjou were elected as directors. The first Board of Directors meeting was also convened, electing Venerable Huimin as Chairperson of the Board and appointing Director Hung Jenjou (\u6d2a\u632f\u6d32) to serve concurrently as Executive Director.<\/p>

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2023.04.08<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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2023.05<\/div>
Application to Establish a National Religious Foundation<\/h6>

An application was submitted to the Ministry of the Interior (the competent authority) to establish a national religious foundation: the Comprehensive Buddhist Electronic Text Archive Foundation (\u8ca1\u5718\u6cd5\u4eba\u4f5b\u6559\u96fb\u5b50\u4f5b\u5178\u57fa\u91d1\u6703, CBETA Foundation).<\/p>

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2023.05<\/div><\/article>\n\n\n\n
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2023.08.07<\/div>
Establishment of the “Comprehensive Buddhist Electronic Text Archive Foundation”<\/h6>

The incorporation process was completed on August 7, 2023.<\/p>

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2023.08.07<\/div><\/article>\n
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Toward a Sustainable Future<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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References (in Chinese only):<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span>A Brief History of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) (Part 1)<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span>A Brief History of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) (Part 2)<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span>A Brief History of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) (Part 2)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History Toward a Sustainable Future References (in Chinese only):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-30916","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHistory - 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