Editing Editorial Guidelines - Encyclopedic Pages

This page sets out the editorial rules for the encyclopedic pages of the Radical Buddhism Project (RBP): biographies, country profiles, and contextual and topical articles. General rules (tone, American English, page titles, authorship) are on [[Editorial Guidelines]]. The format for citations is on [[Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format]]. Rules for the text archive are on [[Editorial Guidelines - Texts and Translations]].

== Biographical Pages ==
=== Page Section Architecture ===
Every biographical entry must strictly adhere to the following eight-part sequence:
# '''Introduction:''' 100–200 words summarizing who the figure was, their Buddhist tradition, core ideological alignment, and historical significance to radical Buddhism.
# '''Biography:''' 250–1,000 words providing a chronological narrative of their life, traditional training, ordination (if applicable), political awakening, activist years, and state response or legacy.
# '''Ideas:''' An analytical synthesis of their specific philosophical and theological innovations, detailing how they reconciled radical politics (e.g., socialism, anarchism, anti-imperialism) with the Dharma, alongside their critiques of mainstream Buddhist institutions.
# '''Writings:''' A chronological catalog of the author's own texts. (See the rules below.)
# '''Secondary Literature in English:''' A selective, reverse-chronological bibliography of English scholarly analysis. (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''Secondary Literature in Other Languages:''' A hyper-selective, reverse-chronological bibliography of analysis written in non-English languages. (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''How to Cite This Article:''' A pre-formatted citation block mirroring APA style rules for readers to reference the entry. (See [[#How to Cite This Article|below]].)
# '''Notes:''' The references (footnotes) triggered by <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.

=== Specific Rules for the "Writings" Section ===
* '''Scope of Inclusion:''' Prioritize any and all texts that directly concern radical Buddhism, engaged Buddhism, or social critiques.
* '''Cutoff Point:''' Prolific non-political works (e.g., traditional doctrinal commentaries, general poetry) may be listed if they are highly famous or influential. Truncate long lists at the editor's discretion to maintain focus.
* '''Ordering:''' Strictly chronological (earliest published to latest).
* '''Annotations:''' Each item should ideally be followed by 1–3 sentences providing a short summary or vital contextual information. This text must focus strictly on the specific document and must not duplicate the broader ideological analysis already provided in the "Ideas" section. Annotations are formatted by means of the <code><nowiki>{{annotation|...}}</nowiki></code> template, where the annotation goes on the dots.

== Country Profiles ==
=== Page Section Architecture ===
Every country profile entry must strictly adhere to the following seven-part sequence:
# '''Introduction:''' 100–200 words contextualizing the nation's political-religious landscape, summarizing core historical eras, and outlining main socio-political tensions.
# '''Buddhism in [Country]:''' 250–1,000 words tracing a macro chronological history of mainstream Buddhism, institutional structures, primary traditions, and the relationship between the state and the sangha. (Anything in this section that can be considered common knowledge does not require references.)
# '''Radical Buddhism in [Country]:''' A focused historical narrative tracking the emergence of left-wing, activist, or dissident Buddhist trends, highlighting domestic crises (e.g., colonialism, land poverty, imperial militarism, caste oppression) that mobilized monastics and laypeople. (See the constraints below.)
# '''Literature in English:''' A selective, reverse-chronological bibliography. (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''Literature in Other Languages:''' A hyper-selective, reverse-chronological bibliography of source-language regional texts (e.g., Japanese, Chinese, Thai). (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''How to Cite This Article:''' A pre-formatted citation block mirroring APA style rules for readers to reference the specific country entry. (See [[#How to Cite This Article|below]].)
# '''Notes:''' The references (footnotes) triggered by <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.

=== Specific Constraints for the "Radical Buddhism in [Country]" Section ===
* '''Anti-Duplication Rule:''' To prevent structural bloat, this narrative must not become excessively long by duplicating extensive text from individual biography pages. Instead, it must rely heavily on internal links to those specific individuals.
* '''Prominent Individual Subsections:''' If a specific individual is exceptionally critical to that nation's radical Buddhist history, editors may create a dedicated low-level subsection for them within this section.
** This subsection must provide a concise explanation of their relevance, restricted strictly to '''100–200 words'''.
** The top of this subsection must feature a standardized "main article" link template pointing directly to the individual's full biography page.
*** ''Syntax Example:'' <code><nowiki>{{Main|Uchiyama Gudo}}</nowiki></code>

== Contextual and Topical Articles ==
=== Purpose and Scope ===
The primary function of this category is to act as an "overflow valve" for biographical and country profile pages. To maintain scannability, any highly detailed, extensive discussions of specific events, movements, organizations, or localized historical phenomena must be offloaded into a dedicated contextual article.
* ''Example Strategy:'' If the historical narrative on the country page for Japan becomes bloated due to an extensive discussion of the Ikkō-ikki (一向一揆), that content must be extracted into its own Contextual and Topical Article. The main country page will retain only a short, condensed summary of the event accompanied by a <code><nowiki>{{Main}}</nowiki></code> link template pointing to the new page.

=== Page Section Architecture ===
Every contextual or topical entry must include the following sections:
# '''Introduction:''' 100–200 words defining the movement, event, or concept, its historical window, and its direct relevance to radical Buddhism.
# The '''core body''' of the page, clearly broken down with descriptive subheadings.
# '''Literature in English:''' A selective, reverse-chronological bibliography tailored to the topic. (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''Literature in Other Languages:''' A hyper-selective, reverse-chronological bibliography of source-language regional texts. (See [[#Shared Rules for Literature Sections|the shared rules for literature sections]].)
# '''How to Cite This Article:''' A pre-formatted citation block mirroring APA style rules for readers to reference the topical entry. (See [[#How to Cite This Article|below]].)
# '''Notes:''' The references (footnotes) triggered by <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.

== Shared Rules for Literature Sections ==
The following rules apply to the "Secondary Literature in English," "Secondary Literature in Other Languages," "Literature in English," and "Literature in Other Languages" sections of every biography, country profile, and contextual or topical article. Each entry is formatted according to [[Editorial Guidelines - Citation Format]].
* '''Ordering:''' Strictly reverse-chronological (most recent to oldest).
* '''The Selectivity Triad:''' Curate entries based on three core values:
** ''Recent:'' Prioritize modern scholarship that updates or refines older views.
** ''Free Open Access:'' Highly prefer peer-reviewed, open-source materials to maximize reader accessibility.
** ''Influential:'' Prioritize foundational, heavily cited, or groundbreaking scholarly works.
* '''Academic Threshold:''' In principle, only published scholarly work qualifies for inclusion.
* '''The Exclusion Clause:''' Non-scholarly online sources, blog posts, or self-published materials are barred, ''except'' when virtually no academic literature has been published about the subject, or a particular online source is demonstrably influential in the discourse.
* '''Hyper-Selectivity:''' The "Other Languages" section must be curated even more strictly than the English section. Limit it to definitive source-language texts or major international breakthroughs.
* '''Single Language Rule:''' If all literature in the "Other Languages" section is in the same language, replace "Other Languages" in the section title with the name of that language.
* '''Annotations:''' Each source requires a brief, 1–3 sentence annotation highlighting its specific value, scope, or methodology without duplicating content from other sections. Annotations are formatted by means of the <code><nowiki>{{annotation|...}}</nowiki></code> template, where the annotation goes on the dots.

== How to Cite This Article ==
To provide readers with clean, stable citations for compiled entries, the penultimate section of every encyclopedic page (biography, country profile, and contextual or topical article) must feature a copyable text box using the template below. The name ordering rules and the hidden authorship change log are defined on [[Editorial Guidelines#Conventions for Citation Blocks|the main Editorial Guidelines page]].

=== Citation Structural Template ===
Surname, Given Name [First Main Author], Natural Name [Subsequent Main Authors], & Natural Name [Other Authors] (Year of Last Change). "Title of Wiki Page". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of Exact Date of Last Change (DD Month YYYY). URL.

=== Examples ===
* ''Example A (Single Main Author, No Secondary Contributors):''
** '''Visible Text:''' Smith, John Arthur (2026). "Uchiyama Gudo". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of 14 May 2026. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Uchiyama_Gudo</nowiki>.
* ''Example B (Multiple Main Authors + Appended "Other" Authors following an authorized revision):''
** '''Visible Text:''' Chen, David, John Arthur Smith, & Jane Mary Doe (2026). "Taiwan". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of 13 July 2026. <nowiki>http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Taiwan</nowiki>.

=== Example of the Section Code ===
<pre><nowiki>== How to Cite This Article ==
<!-- AUTHORSHIP CHANGE LOG
First version, 27 July 2026. Main: Brons, Lajos. Other: (none).-->
Brons, Lajos ({{REVISIONYEAR}}). "Wen Guangxi". ''The Radical Buddhism Project''. Version of {{#time: j F Y | {{REVISIONYEAR}}-{{REVISIONMONTH}}-{{REVISIONDAY}} }}. &lt;nowiki&gt;http://radicalbuddhism.net/wiki/Wen_Guangxi&lt;/nowiki&gt;.</nowiki></pre>

[[category:Project]]
[[category:Editorial Guidelines]]