Distillation of Theravāda Buddhism — Decision Record

Per-tradition entry point for Plan 010; the pilot (Gate 1). This README fixes which texts and which translation are distilled, and who reviewed the choices. See the Atlas architecture for the cross-tradition layer.

Tradition

• Slug: buddhism-theravada
• Tradition / family: Theravāda Buddhism (the Pali textual tradition; not Mahāyāna/Vajrayāna, which would be separate entries).
• Primary frame in one sentence: a non-theistic path of ethical and mental cultivation leading from dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) to liberation (nibbāna).

Canon selection (what is included, and why)

Text	Included?	Rationale
Dhammapada	yes (first)	Bounded (423 verses), among the most recited/memorized Buddhist texts → high lived-centrality; ideal pilot entry point
Pali Canon nikāyas (Sutta Piṭaka)	yes (staged, after Dhammapada)	Full-canon commitment per Plan 010; staged because of size
Vinaya & Abhidhamma Piṭaka	noted	Monastic-discipline and scholastic layers; referenced, distilled only if principle-bearing

• Full-canon commitment: yes, staged — Stage A: Dhammapada (in progress) → Stage B: the nikāyas.

Translation policy

• Named translation (Stage A): F. Max Müller, The Dhammapada, in The Sacred Books of the East, vol. X, part I (Oxford, 1881). Public domain.
• Access: Project Gutenberg #2017 (plain text).
• Why this translation: unambiguously public-domain, a scholarly standard, complete. Caveat: 1881 diction (e.g., "priesthood" for saṅgha, "love" for avera/non-hatred). Where Müller's word choice carries interpretive weight, the Pali term is noted.
• Verse numbering: Müller numbers verses 1–423 continuously; Chapter I = verses 1–20.
• Untranslatable terms to preserve: dukkha, anattā, anicca, nibbāna, dhamma, saṅgha, Māra, taṇhā, mettā. (Müller's English renderings are glossed against these.)
• Quote accuracy: working quotes are from the Gutenberg plain text; final character-for-character verification against SBE X is a Phase 7 audit task.

Reviewer / standpoint

• Within-tradition reviewer: none secured.
• Therefore: this output is "one structured reading, not authoritative" and the reviewer gap is flagged. The tradition stays in scope per the Plan 010 policy.

Structure for this tradition

• N=1 unit ("books/"): Dhammapada chapter (vagga); verses cited as Dhp <n>.
• Internal N=2 layer?: not for the Dhammapada alone (single text). A layers/ pass may apply at Stage B if nikāya sources are treated as multiple independent texts.
• Sensitivity boundaries: none unusual for the Dhammapada; standard care in not over-reading later doctrine into verse.

Files

File	Status
00-methodology.md	done
books/00-index-and-traceability.md	done (all 26 chapters)
books/01..26 (N=1)	done — 423 verses, 129 chapter principles
principles-distillation.md (N=3)	done — 13 core principles
structural-analysis.md	done
compass-buddhism-theravada.md	done

Stage A (Dhammapada): complete. Stage B (Pali Canon nikāyas): representative sampling underway — first entry the Aṅguttara Nikāya, see books/30-anguttara-nikaya.md (Issue 028 R3 depth expansion). Stage-B PD source: Warren, Buddhism in Translations (1896); Woodward & Hare's Gradual Sayings (1932–1936) deferred until U.S. PD coverage available (~2028 for Vol I).

References

• Plan 010 · Atlas architecture · Distillation guides