Nitpicky Decorum- Do Buddhist capitalize (g)(G)od?

matthewmartin

And for that matter, do we capitalize the buddha, or buddhas in general?

Zero

We?
Proper nouns always start with a capital letter.

poptart

Depends on whether you are talking about a buddha in the general sense, or the Buddha in the Siddhartha sense.

Jainarayan

poptart said:

Depends on whether you are talking about a buddha in the general sense, or the Buddha in the Siddhartha sense.

That is how I do it. I also capitalize buddha when it's part of a buddha's name, like Amitābha Buddha.

When writing about someone's supreme being I write God, but for a god, well...

matthewmartin

I did some more googling to try to answer my own question. Rules about proper nouns seem to work most of the time, although there seems to be a Christian tradition of over capitalizing, e.g. capitalizing pronouns referring to God/Jesus.

And "buddha" is a title, so it gets capitalized like "general" "a general" but "General Petraeus"

No clear guidance on plurals of specific gods/boddhisatvas. Wikipedia appears to over capitalize Bodhisattvas when referring to a collection of them, which we wouldn't do for say, "Ten highly specific, named teachers that I know" cf "Shingon services include 13 Bodhisattvas"

genkaku

Whether the first letter is capitalized or not, I'll still answer to my name.

vinlyn

This goes along with something I've noticed in other writing lately...statements such as, "I live next to the Mississippi river." Note small "r".

I guess the difference would be if you are talking about the God -- whether you believe in him or not -- it should be capitalized. But if you are talking about many gods...well, I'd leave it a small g since it is non-specific. Just as I would say I live next to the Mississippi River or I live next to a river.

Hamsaka

i think it is weird, in a buddhist sense, to capitalize "i" when we refer to ourselves, in that i shouldn't be an object of belief or faith nor is "i" a name.

Capitalization implies emphasis, too. Therefore, i won't emphasize myself by referring to me in the first person. Well, in this post, old habits die hard.

Those text-faced 'kids' and lack of proper grammar and capitalization and spelling may really be manifesting a spontaneous, organic aspect of buddha, hm?

anataman

I AM.

Hi i, don't become inferior. If you let grammar and punctuation rule you, you are bound to be-littled.

Language is a tool not a limit.

Jonathands

Hamsaka said:

i think it is weird, in a buddhist sense, to capitalize "i" when we refer to ourselves, in that i shouldn't be an object of belief or faith nor is "i" a name.

Capitalization implies emphasis, too. Therefore, i won't emphasize myself by referring to me in the first person. Well, in this post, old habits die hard.

Those text-faced 'kids' and lack of proper grammar and capitalization and spelling may really be manifesting a spontaneous, organic aspect of buddha, hm?

On the "I" topic, I've been told that it is a (non-written) rule for the English language to always capitalize the "I" when I write... i feel it quite uncomfortable though, i'd reather use the simple i, but it's not a thing of "ego" for me at least - as the rule in portuguese (my native language) doesn't demand you to capitalize every instance of "I" or "eu" ...


But i went offtopic, Isn't the capitalization of God purelly egocentric, in the sense that the believer wish you to do that to acknowledge his belief? and thus isn't it inheritedly negative?

matthewmartin

Jonathands said:

Isn't the capitalization of God purelly egocentric, in the sense that the believer wish you to do that to acknowledge his belief? and thus isn't it inherently negative?

I think it depends on if it is an example of over capitalization, like Christian God vs Christian god, (Mississippi River vs Mississippi river), or capitalizing pronouns. ("George, I saw him burning a bush. God, I saw Him in a burning bush") In those cases, ones religious beliefs and beliefs about how to deal with other people's religions.

footiam

matthewmartin said:

And for that matter, do we capitalize the buddha, or buddhas in general?

Well, maybe they do if they are living in a capitalist country!

MaryAnne

FWIW; typing without the use of capitals when referring to oneself (i, susan, douglas, johnny, etc ) is a tell-sign of which preference you are in the Sado-masochism (or Dom/sub) chat rooms, forums and clubs.

Just sayin'....