Dear Yong Peng;

I think you are on the right track with XML.

The criteria for using a given technology should be whether it makes
life easier. The interlinear XML resources seem to do this since they
already have style sheets:

http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/research/lt/projects/interlinear/#STYLESHEETS

If the XML markup can be easily transformed using scripting languages
like Perl or XSLT, the XML has added value and made life easier.

That individual Suttantas aren't indentified in citations to Pali Text
Society texts always seemed strange to me, because that is the
greatest common denominator whatever script, language, or version you
are reading the Tipitaka it. The natural citation would be (Suttanta,
verse number). Putting a Suttanta in a given language (Pali, English)
in a plain text file would be logical.

Then the next step could be to break the text into verses or blocks of
text and then link the verses between the two different language
versions. TEI has cross-referencing tags that might provide a nice
standard and convenient way of doing this:

http://www.tei-c.org/Guidelines/P4/html/SA.html

But all that really seems necessary is to number the paragraphs so
they can be matched. Statistical text alignment programmes that are
used to make so-called "parallel corpuses" could provide this
alignment or it could be done manually.

Once we have the alignment, we have to think of how to print it in
convenient and instructive way to read. We might want to design a
parallel language scripture format, like the one in the parallel
Thai-English bible I mentioned once. Or the interlinear strategy this
site has used in the keys to the Pali textbook questions (which can be
used as learning material itself).

Looking for technology transfer opportunities from bible translators
and printers is also natural since they have been doing this for a lot
longer. The natural objection would be that one is creating some
so-called protestant Buddhism and that Pali is mainly an oral
tradition. Elan provides a way of syncing audio with text:

http://www.lat-mpi.eu/tools/elan/

With metta,
Jon Fernquest

(Note: Seem to remember that the Pali text society translation does
not maintain the original punctuation in the Burmese or Sri Lankan
script original version. Will have to look into this.)