Using the Search Engine

Just type the words or phrases that you're looking for in the search box and click the "Search" button. The search engine responds by presenting you with a list of all the web pages on this site containing those words or phrases. The most relevant content will appear at the top of your results.

Common words (such as "the," "and," "you," etc.) are ignored during searches.

By default this search engine tries to find pages that have exact matches for any of the words or phrases entered in your search query.

Example: If you type noble right concentration in the search box, you'll find hundreds of pages: every page that contains any one of the words noble, right, or concentration.

Improving your searches

Put quotation marks around phrases.

To search for a phrase of several words, enclose your query in double quotation marks ("...").

Example: To read about "noble right concentration," type "noble right concentration" in the search box (include the double quotes!).

Use + and - qualifiers.

A word beginning with + is required to be on the page. A word beginning with - is required to NOT be on the page.

Example: To find pages that mention generosity but not virtue, try +generosity -virtue

Use the * wildcard.

If a query word ends with a * your search will find pages containing words that begin with your query word.

Example: To find pages that contain generous, generosity, general, generic, etc., type gener* in your query.

Combine these techniques.

Examples:

• +generosity +layp* -virtue
  Finds pages that contain generosity AND layperson or laypeople BUT NOT virtue.
• "buddha's son" "son of the buddha"
  Finds pages about Rahula, the Buddha's son.
• +ananda +sutta -savatthi +"first jhana"
  Finds suttas that mention the Buddha's cousin Ananda, AND the first jhana, but NOT the town of Savatthi.

Case doesn't matter.

Searches are case insensitive: searching for "Dana" will match the lowercase "dana" and uppercase "DANA."

Accents don't matter.

By default, all searches are accent insensitive: ñ is the same as n, ö is the same as o, etc. (But see "Searching for Pali words", below.)

Correct spelling is crucial.

This search engine is ruthlessly strict about spelling. If you can't find what you're looking for, check your spelling.

Example: Here are some words that you won't find in a search: "Thripitaka," "bikkhu," "sanghka," "visudimagga." You will, however, find: "Tipitaka," "bhikkhu," "sangha," "visuddhimagga."

Searching for Pali words.

Searching for Pali words can be tricky because of the diacritical marks that are used in the phonetic representation of Pali in our roman alphabet. On this website most (but not all) Pali words are represented without diacritics: nibbana, ditthi, etc. The palatal nasal is usually represented here as ñ, hence ñana, viññana, etc., although this search engine regards n and ñ as equivalent. In some texts, diacritics are represented using the Velthuis convention now widely used on the Internet: double the vowels, and precede the affected consonants with punctuation symbolic of the diacritic (see "Diacritical Marks" in "A Guide to Learning the Pali Language" for details). You'll have to be a bit resourceful in your search. If you can't find the word you're looking for, try a different spelling.

Example: When looking up the Pali word for mental absorption, try these alternate spellings: jhana or jhaana; for insight knowledge, try ñana, nana, naan.a, or ñaan.a; for consciousness, try viññana, vinnana, vinnaa.na, or viññaa.na; etc.

Keep in mind that long Pali words are sometimes hyphenated to make them more readable in English.

Example: The famous Mahasatipatthana sutta is sometimes written as Maha-satipatthana sutta. To find the sutta, try looking up "maha-satipatthana" or simply "satipatthana."

Search in Pali, not Sanskrit. Although a few common Buddhist terms sometimes appear on this website in their Sanskrit equivalents (dharma, karma, nirvana, etc.), the great majority of terms are in Pali (dhamma, kamma, nibbana, etc.). Searches for Sanskrit words like dhyana (Pali: jhana), smrti (sati), or sutra (sutta) will yield little fruit.

If you're having trouble finding Pali terms that you believe must be on the website, check the Glossary of Pali and Buddhist Terms to see that you are spelling it correctly.