Introduction

EBTC was established in December 1997 centering around several professors in the fields of Buddhist Studies, Seon Studies, and Computer Engineering, aiming at researching electronic Buddhist texts and at processing the relevant projects systematically to construct an electronic Buddhist library and a cyber Buddhist museum by digitizing Korean Buddhist texts and cultural properties.

It is divided into three research divisions - Digitization of Buddhist Texts, Electronic Buddhist Library, and Cyber Buddhist Museum. Its major business is to investigate / develop / research the relevant fields of electronic Buddhist texts, to collaborate and cooperate with world-wide researchers of the fields, to host international and local conferences/workshops for sharing of research results, and to publish a journal of the fields for leveraging the technology of current Buddhist digital libraries and museums.

The major works that the institute has done and been proceeding to are: digitization of the Hanguk Bulgyo Chonso and of the Hangul Tripitaka; construction of the Buddhist digital library and of the Buddhist cyber museum; international and local conferences on the electronic Buddhist texts; construction of the electronic cultural atlas with ECAI; construction of temple web sites; construction of a cyber Buddhist university.

The institute has opened an internet web site (http://ebtc.dongguk.ac.kr) to allow general public to access its digital Buddhist texts, such as the Hanguk Bulgyo Chonso, the Hangul Tripitaka, and its culture content, such as Buddhist cyber museum, and digital AnkorWat. The project of "digitization of the Hanguk Bulgyo Chonso"(total 14 volumes) completed by 2006 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the University. The institute is periodically publishing a journal, Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, and held an EBTI international conference in 2001 in commemoration of the 95th anniversary of the opening of the University. Some of the activities of the institute are as follows:

Consignment research

• Technology for Digitizing Korean Buddhist Texts (1998 - 1999)
• Cyber Museum of Korean Buddhism (2000- )
• Digitization of Hanguk Bulgyo Chonso (1999 - 2007)
• Digitization of Hangul Tripitaka (2001 - 2010)
• Digital Content of AnkorWat (2006)
• Digital Story Bank of Won Hyo (2009)

Acdemic conferences

• Domestic Conference on the Direction of the Electronic Buddhist Texts in the 21th Century (Oct. 1999)
• Domestic Conference on the Various Problems of Electronic Buddhist Texts (Oct. 2000)
  International Conference on the International Collaboration for the Digitization of Buddhist Texts (May 2001)
• Domestic Conference on the Digitization of Hangul Tripitaka (Oct. 2002)
• Domestic Conference on the Translation of Buddhist Texts (Oct. 2003)
• Domestic Conference on the Necessity of the Cultural Content of Buddhism (Oct. 2004)
• Domestic Conference on the Direction of Development at Buddhist Cultural Content (Oct. 2005)
• Domestic Conference on the Industrial Application of Buddhist Cultural Content (Nov. 2006)
• Domestic Conference on the Effects and Further Task at Digitization of Hanguk Bulgyo Chonso (Nov. 2007)
• Domestic Conference on the Organization and Construction of Hangul Tripitaka (Nov. 2008)

Publications

• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 1 (Dec. 1999)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 2 (Dec. 2000)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 3 (Dec. 2001)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 4 (Dec. 2002)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 5 (Dec. 2003)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 6 (Dec. 2004)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 7 (Dec. 2005)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 8 (Dec. 2006)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 9 (Dec. 2007)
• Journal of Electronic Buddhist Texts, Vol. 10 (Dec. 2008)

Homepage

http://ebtc.dongguk.ac.kr