Introduction

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A Study on Data Model Development for Buddhist Scripture Digital Archive - Focusing on the Avatamsaka Sutra of the Tripitaka Koreana - KIM Soo-hyeon Major in Cultural Informatics The Graduate School of Korean Studies The Academy of Korean Studies This research seeks a method for exploring and reading Buddhist scriptur es via today’s digital media. It does so by devising a method to visually exp ress the semantic relations and the key literary elements of the Gandavyuh a and Dasabhumika Sutras, both found in the Avatamsaka Sutra of the Tri pitaka Koreana. In Korea, in order to digitize the texts of Buddhist scriptures, the analogue characters of classical Chinese and old Hangeul were transformed into digit al text that followed the Unicode standard. An example of this research is t he digital Tripitaka Koreana of the Archives of Buddhist Culture (Dongguk University). In order to preserve the original form of the scriptures, the dat abase was designed to reflect the way the Tripitaka Koreana scriptures wer e stored and arranged at the time they were compiled. During the process of digitizing the characters into Unicode, nearly 70,000 variants and typogr aphical errors in the original text were accurately included. Regarding these kinds of efforts to digitize Buddhist scriptures, Kim Jong�myung (2002) has argued that the content of Buddhist scriptures should no t simply be copied as-is from woodblock to CD, but that there is a need fo r the addition of new documents. In order to fully understand the teachings of the Buddha, there is a need for the Buddhist scriptures to be copied from analogue to digital text and t o digitize the work of preserving and passing down the teachings and, mor eover, the knowledge in which the true teachings of Buddhism are inheren t. With these issues in mind, this research selected the Avatamsaka Sutra, w hich is a Buddhist scripture included in the Tripitaka Koreana, as the main text of study. In order to develop a new data model for the digitization of t he text of the Buddhist scripture, the structure and context of the Gandavy uha and Dasabhumika Sutras were comprehensively reviewed. Through the reading of information about the elements that form the context, Gandavyu ha Sutra Story Visualization Data was created in order to approach the det ailed information related to the Avatamsaka Sutra. A semantic database, na med the Avatamsaka Sutra Digital Archive, was created based upon a newl y designed Gandavyuha Ontology (gdvh). This archive consists of the followi ng parts: the Gandavyuha Sutra Document Data Index, the Gandavyuha Sut ra Story Visualization Data, the VR Gallery of the Illustrations of the Avata msaka Sutra, and the Gandavyuha Sutra Digital Dictionary of People and T erms. The Ganavyuha Ontology aims to convey the semantic relationships b etween the Gandavyuha and Dasabhumika Sutras. Based on this ontology, t he semantic relationships between the knowledge elements related to the Su dhana’s quest for enlightenment in the Gandavyuha Sutra and the knowled ge elements related to the teachings of the masters in the Dasabhumika Su tra were visually expressed so that the story structure of the Avatamsaka S utra can be clearly observed from a comprehensive perspective. The Avatamsaka Sutra Digital Archive is provided to users via an online p latform based on Wiki software. Through the Gandavyuha Sutra Document Data Index, the Gandavyuha Sutra can be browsed based on volume and B uddhist master in Sanskrit, English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. An ind ex for each volume is provided so that, while browsing the Buddhist scriptu res, the knowledge elements for each volume can be searched visually. The Gandavyuha Sutra Story Visualization Data shows the overall knowledge ele ments for the Gandavyuha Sutra and the detailed story elements related to Sudhana’s quest for enlightenment based on the Gandavyuha Ontology. Thi s kind of knowledge information, including information relating to Buddhist masters, dharma texts, and teaching venues, are provided via hyperlink tog ether with the respective Buddhist scripture and a VR space which shows il lustrations of the Avatamsaka Sutra. In the VR Gallery of the Illustrations o f the Avatamsaka Sutra, the illustrations of the Avatamsaka Sutra can be b rowsed by each volume. Information related to the various people depicted in the illustrations can be accessed via hyperlinked icons which connect to the Gandavyuha Sutra Digital Dictionary of People and Terms. Through this, the users can understand diverse variations that comprise t he original character of the Buddhist scriptures and the context that is co mmunicated among them. By seeking a new method for approaching the di gitalization of the text of Buddhist scriptures, there is the possibility of expl oring new knowledge and literary elements contained within the Avatamsak a Sutra. Keywords: Tripitaka Koreana, Illustration of the Avatamsaka Sutra, Gandavy uha Sutra, Dasabhumika Sutra, digital Buddhism dictionary, digital humaniti es, ontology, digital archive