By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, March 12: Monlam IT known for Monlam Dictionary and Monlam Tibetan fonts today held its sixth conference to discuss Buddhist terminologies at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA).
Participated by scholars from all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Ven. Lobsang Monlam, Founder of Monlam IT, at the opening ceremony said that his initiative is an ‘apolitical’ drive aimed at serving millions of users including Tibetans, Buddhists and students.
“The first priority of a teacher is to properly educate his students. However, even a learnt master will have a limited reach to propagate his knowledge. If different terms and its proper meaning in different schools of Tibetan Buddhism are included in the dictionary the benefit would reach the millions of users,” Ven Lobsang said, adding that the technology may change but the proper description of the terminologies would remain the same.
The monk from Sera Monastery, known for Monlam Tibetan fonts, said that out of over 2 million users, 90 percent of the users are in Tibet. He also added that on top of the existing 1,00,000 terms, another 1,00,000 would be added by the end of next year.
Taking the dictionary to its next level, Monlam IT also aims at including the origin of the terminologies.
“When it comes to dictionary, the 130-year-old Oxford dictionary is at the pinnacle. Comparatively, we are at infant stage. So we must work towards our common goal of making the Tibetan terminology richer and cover the vast Buddhist texts,” he said.
Attending the opening ceremony as Chief Guest was Tenzin Lungtok, Secretary of Department of Religion and Culture. On the occasion, he lauded the hard work put by all the scholar and participants in making Monlam dictionary benefit millions of users.
Developed for both the major mobile Operating System of Android and Apple IOS, the self-taught developer made his first Monlam Tibetan font in 2005. He had also created Monlam Common Tibetan Pronunciation, which was inaugurated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2009.
