Editorial Guidelines - Texts and Translations

This page sets out the editorial rules for the text archive of the Radical Buddhism Project (RBP): original source texts and their English translations. It covers page titles and archival codes, the standard page layout, page markers, the transcription and translation conventions, and the treatment of damaged and censored passages. General rules (tone, American English, authorship) are on Editorial Guidelines. Rules for encyclopedic pages are on Editorial Guidelines - Encyclopedic Pages. The format for citations is on Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format.

Page Titles and Archival Codes

All pages in the text archive are titled with an archival code, never with the literal title of the text. The general titling restrictions that apply to every page on the wiki are on the main Editorial Guidelines page. The formula for the archival codes is repeated here for convenience.

Archival Codes for Original Texts and Translations

Original Source Text Pages

• Standard Rule: The page title must never be the literal title of the text. Instead, it must utilize a standardized, alphanumeric archival code written entirely in capital letters.
• The Archival Code Formula: The code must strictly consist of three distinct components packed together without spaces:

1. Author Initials: Exactly two initials derived from the author's romanized name, ordered with the surname first.
2. Year Digits: The last two digits of the year the text was originally published.
3. Keyword Abbreviations: Three letters representing the first letter of the first three primary keywords in the romanized text title.

• Example: An original source text written by Uchiyama Gudō (UG) published in 1908 (08) titled Museifu Kyōsan Kakumei (無政府共産革命) (MKK) would be titled: UG08MKK

➣ See also: List of Author Codes

Translation Pages

• Standard Rule: The page titles for all translated English texts must identically mirror the exact alphanumeric archival code of their matching original source text page.
• The Translation Suffix: To differentiate the translation from the source code, the code must be followed immediately by a hyphen and a capital letter T suffix (-T).
• Example: The English translation page for the text mentioned above would be titled: UG08MKK-T

Page Layout

Every original text page and every translation page must follow the same layout, in the order given below. Sections marked "optional" are left out when they would be empty.

Order	Element	Original text page	Translation page
1	Identification line	Required	Required
2	Table of contents	Required	Required
3	Main section	== Text ==	== Translation ==
4	== Translation Notes ==	Not used	Optional
5	== Source Note ==	Optional	Optional
6	== How to Cite This Page ==	Required	Required
7	== Notes ==	Required if the page has endnotes	Required if the page has endnotes
8	Copyright status banner	Required	Required
9	Categories	Required	Required

1. Identification Line

The first line of the page identifies the original text in the RBP citation style (see Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format), including the publisher or journal details of the edition used. The identification line is the same on the original text page and on its translation page, except for the links described below.

• Author: The author's name links to the author's biography in the RBP.
• Original-language title: On a translation page, the original-language title links to the original text page if it is available in the RBP. On the original text page itself, it is not linked.
• English title: The English translation of the title is placed between square brackets. On an original text page, it links to the translation page if a translation is available in the RBP. On the translation page itself, it is not linked.
• Square brackets around a link: Write the square brackets as [ and ] when they directly enclose a link, to avoid confusion with wiki link syntax.

Example (original text page UG08MKK):

[[Uchiyama Gudo|Uchiyama Gudō (内山愚童)]] (1908). 『無政府共産革命』 [[[UG08MKK-T|Anarcho-Communist Revolution]]]. Publisher Name.

Example (translation page UG08MKK-T):

[[Uchiyama Gudo|Uchiyama Gudō (内山愚童)]] (1908). 『[[UG08MKK|無政府共産革命]]』 [Anarcho-Communist Revolution]. Publisher Name.

(The publisher in these examples is a placeholder.)

2. Table of Contents

Directly below the identification line, insert the following code, which displays the table of contents without section numbers: <div class="noautonum">__TOC__</div>

3. Main Section: Text or Translation

The main section is titled == Text == on an original text page and == Translation == on a translation page. It contains the full text, with page markers as described in Page Markers and Pagination.

Heading levels. Level 2 headings (==) are reserved for the standard sections of the page layout. Headings that belong to the text itself (parts, chapters, sections) start at level 3 (===) and go down from there. Page markers are not headings and never appear in the table of contents.

4. Translation Notes (optional; translation pages only)

The section == Translation Notes == contains explanations and comments about the translation that cannot fit in endnotes (for example, the rendering of a key term used throughout the text, or the translator's approach to a particularly difficult passage).

5. Source Note (optional)

The section == Source Note == explains the source of the text if it differs from the edition given in the identification line, together with any related information (for example, other editions, manuscript variants, or the history of the text's transmission).

6. How to Cite This Page

The section == How to Cite This Page == is a variant of the "How to Cite This Article" section on encyclopedic pages. It includes the usual hidden authorship change log. Author names follow the rules for personal names in Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format (Latin script first, followed by the original script in parentheses). The name ordering rules for translators are on the main Editorial Guidelines page. Unlike the citation on encyclopedic pages, the citation credits the author of the text, and for translations also the translator(s), and the year in parentheses is the year of original publication.

Template (translation page): Author Name (Original Publication Year). Title. Translated by Translator Name(s). The Radical Buddhism Project. Version of Exact Date of Last Change (DD Month YYYY). URL.

Template (original text page): Author Name (Original Publication Year). Original-Language Title [English Title]. The Radical Buddhism Project. Version of Exact Date of Last Change (DD Month YYYY). URL.

The title is formatted according to the typography rules for its type and language in Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format (italics for book-length works, quotation marks for articles and other short pieces; corner brackets for Japanese and Chinese titles).

Example (translation page):

== How to Cite This Page ==
<!-- AUTHORSHIP CHANGE LOG
First version, 27 October 2026. Main: Smith, John Arthur. Other: (none).-->
Uchiyama Gudō (内山愚童) (1908). ''Anarcho-Communist Revolution''. Translated by John Arthur Smith. ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y | {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/UG08MKK-T</nowiki>.

Example (original text page):

== How to Cite This Page ==
<!-- AUTHORSHIP CHANGE LOG
First version, 27 October 2026. Main: Smith, John Arthur. Other: (none).-->
Uchiyama Gudō (内山愚童) (1908). 『無政府共産革命』 [Anarcho-Communist Revolution]. ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y | {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/UG08MKK</nowiki>.

The person who transcribed an original text is not named in the visible citation. Transcribers (and translators) are recorded in the hidden change log.

7. Notes

If the page has endnotes, the section == Notes == follows the "How to Cite This Page" section and contains only the code <references />. The MediaWiki Cite extension is used for all endnotes.

8. Copyright Status Banner

Every original text and translation page must carry a copyright status banner at the very bottom of the page, after the Notes section. Look up the appropriate banner in Category:Copyright Policy; the available banners may change over time, so always check the category rather than relying on a remembered name. If none of the banners fits, use Template:Gray Banner to create a custom banner.

9. Categories

The categories follow the copyright banner.

• Original text pages: [[Category:Author Name]] and [[Category:Original texts in Language]]
• Translation pages: [[Category:Author Name]] and [[Category:Translations from Language]]

For the author category, use the author's name as it appears in the title of the author's biography page.

Page Markers and Pagination

To ensure absolute fidelity to the historical archive, original text transcriptions must mirror the exact pagination of the primary source edition used. Page markers serve as the low-level anchoring system across the database and must be inserted precisely where the physical page transitions, regardless of whether this split occurs in the middle of a sentence, clause, or compound phrase. Translations mirror the page markers of their original texts, so that the text pairs remain locked in sequence. Page markers are templates, not headings, so they do not appear in the table of contents.

Page Markers in Original Texts

• Standard Rule: Every new physical page of the source edition is introduced by a page marker.
  • If there is an English translation of the text in the RBP wiki, use {{tpage|#}}, replacing "#" with the page number.
  • If there is no English translation of the text in the RBP wiki, use {{page|#}}, replacing "#" with the page number.
• Changing Status: When a translation of a text is added to the wiki, all {{page|#}} markers on the original text page must be changed to {{tpage|#}} at the same time.

Page Markers in Translations

• Standard Rule: Every page segment of the translation must match the original layout by being introduced by a page marker with the same page number as the original.
  • If the original text is available in the RBP wiki, use {{opage|#}}, replacing "#" with the page number.
  • If the original text is not available in the RBP wiki, use {{page|#}}, replacing "#" with the page number.
• Changing Status: When the original text is added to the wiki, all {{page|#}} markers on the translation page must be changed to {{opage|#}} at the same time.

Mid-Sentence Placement

• Character-Level Splitting: In an original text, the page marker must be placed directly between the two characters where the physical page split occurs in the source document. Do not wait for a sentence, clause, or punctuation mark to end.
• No Added Marks: When a page marker splits an original sentence or word block, do not insert Western-style hyphens, spacing, or editorial punctuation to indicate the break. The text must simply resume naturally after the page marker.

Determining Translation Page Breaks

Because Asian languages use vastly different syntax and word orders compared to English, finding the precise point to split an English translation to match an original page break is structurally difficult (especially in Japanese, due to trailing verbs and modifying clauses). Translators must navigate this anchoring using the following priority system:

• Priority 1 (The Exact Syntactic Split): Wherever possible, the translator must place the English page marker at the exact point in the English sentence that corresponds to the semantic transition in the original text. This means a single English sentence will frequently be split across two page markers.
• Priority 2 (The Sentence Boundary Exception): If an original page break occurs at a point where the Japanese or Chinese syntax is so deeply inverted that splitting the English sentence creates complete gibberish or destroys the meaning of the passage, the translator may place the page marker at the nearest logical grammatical boundary (such as the end of the immediate English clause or sentence).

Typography for Split English Sentences

• No Mechanical Hyphenation: If an English sentence or phrase must be split across a page marker, do not use hyphens or ellipses at the end of the line. Capitalize the first word of the text resuming after the page marker only if it marks the start of a completely new sentence. Otherwise, let it resume in lowercase.
  • Syntax Example (English Split):

He argued passionately for the complete overthrow of the imperial
{{opage|2}}
system and the liberation of the agricultural class.

Interface Integration Note

Custom MediaWiki interface templates render functional user toggle buttons at the page markers. This allows readers to seamlessly switch views between these precise anchor points and their matching segments in the English translation. This section will be extended once those specific template codes are finalized.

Style Guide for Original Texts

Script Authenticity and Integrity

• Original texts must preserve the exact script used in the primary historical edition or publication chosen for the archive.
• No Forced Simplification: Do not convert Traditional Chinese characters to Simplified Chinese for historical texts predating the change or texts sourced from regions like Taiwan.
• Modern Japanese Standard: Modern editions already using Shinjitai (新字体) characters are accepted as-is; manual retroactive conversion back to Kyūjitai (旧字体) characters is not required.

Footnotes

Notes in an original text are created with the MediaWiki Cite extension and collected in the Notes section described in the page layout.

Style Guide for Translations

Scope and Translation Register

• Applies to the generated English editions corresponding directly to the preserved source texts.
• The register must be rigorously academic. Translations are not strictly literal word-for-word substitutions but must stay as close to the original text as possible.

Inline Translation Conventions: Names and Terminology

To balance rigorous academic depth with scannability, translators must adhere to strict rules regarding when and how original scripts are embedded directly into the English translation text.

Handling Personal and Place Names

• First Mention Rule: The very first time a personal name, organization, or historical location is mentioned within a translated text, it must be written in Latin script followed immediately by its original native script version enclosed in parentheses.
  • Example: "When Uchiyama Gudō (内山愚童) published his critique of the imperial system..."
• Subsequent Mention Rule: Every subsequent mention of that same name or entity within the text must use the Latin script alone. Do not repeat the original script.
  • Example: "Following his arrest, Gudō was transported to..."

Inline Terminology and Source Script Injections

• Permitted Cases: Translators may inject original language terms (in their original script and/or standard romanization) in parentheses immediately following an English translation for:
  1. Unusual, highly niche, or idiosyncratic radical terminology.
  2. Particularly dense or hard-to-translate passages.
  3. Any critical instance where providing the original text is deemed necessary, important, or useful for scholarly analysis.
• The Principle of Parsimony (Sparsity): Inline script injections disrupt the flow of reading. Therefore, this practice must be used as sparingly as possible.
• Workflow Guidance: If a term requires more than a simple parenthetical script reference to be understood, or if a passage is so difficult that it requires a lengthy linguistic explanation, do not cluster the main text body. Move the analysis to a footnote instead. If the discussion is too long even for a footnote, move it to the "Translation Notes" section described in the page layout.

Footnotes and Technical Commentary

Footnotes are an integral part of the translation and should provide readers with the historical, linguistic, and technical background necessary to understand the source text. Their purpose is to make specialized material accessible without interrupting the flow of the translation itself.

Footnotes should be used whenever they significantly improve the reader's understanding of the text, including (but not limited to):

• Technical terminology: Explain Buddhist, Marxist, political, philosophical, or other specialized terms that may be unfamiliar to a general academic audience.
• Historical context: Provide concise background on historical events, organizations, institutions, publications, legal systems, or political circumstances mentioned in the text when they cannot reasonably be assumed to be common knowledge.
• People and places: Briefly identify historical figures, organizations, geographical locations, or other proper nouns whose significance would not be immediately apparent to most readers.
• Language and translation: Explain idioms, puns, rhetorical devices, unusual grammatical constructions, culturally specific expressions, or difficult terminology where the English translation alone cannot adequately convey the original meaning.
• Textual and editorial issues: Record significant variant readings, ambiguities, uncertainties, reconstruction decisions, or other editorial observations that are relevant to the translation.

Footnotes should remain concise and directly relevant to the passage they annotate. They should clarify the text rather than distract from it, and should avoid lengthy digressions unless such discussion is essential for understanding the document.

The MediaWiki Cite extension should be used for all annotation. Citations of sources in footnotes follow Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format. The Notes section is placed as described in the page layout.

Damaged and Censored Passages

When transcribing or translating suppressed or physically damaged texts, editors must use specialized inline markers and group definitions to maintain academic transparency. These rules apply to original texts and translations alike.

Inline Text Typography Rules

• Unreadable Passages (Physical Damage/Blurs): Use ellipsis inside brackets to mark a gap where text is entirely lost due to page degradation, ink bleeds, or physical tearing.
  • Example: "The group met secretly in [...] to draft the manifesto."
• Censored Passages (State Suppression): Use a Unicode block character or specific formatting to replicate the look of redacted text blocks or character erasure, depending on the source language layout.
  • Example (Western/English inline): "The movement strongly opposed the ███ government policy."
  • Example (Asian text original inline context): "主张✕✕✕✕主义" (Matching the original print layout as much as possible).

Footnote Reconstruction Framework

When an editor can confidently reconstruct a censored or damaged passage based on contextual, linguistic, or historical evidence, the reconstruction must be placed into a footnote.

• Mandatory Annotation Structure: The footnote must explicitly list:
  1. The exact location or appearance of the original censorship marker.
  2. The proposed editorial reconstruction.
  3. The historical, contextual, or linguistic justification for that specific reconstruction.