Dharma name
Enable an agent to recognise a Dharma name, record its Buddhist naming context, assess evidence for its attribution, and respect the bearer's preferences when using it.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 16 findings · 26 questions
Religious name identity Establishes what designation is being modelled and whose name it is.
Designation boundary
Distinguishes the Dharma name from neighbouring names and titles.
Local name classification
Record the evidence and local terminology supporting classification as a Dharma name.
- What does the relevant community or source call this kind of name? definition
- Which parts of the recorded designation are the name, and which are titles or honorifics? boundary
Bearer disambiguation
Connects the name to its bearer without treating spelling as a unique identifier.
Supported bearer link
Record evidence distinguishing this attribution from other bearers or similarly written names.
- What source explicitly connects this Dharma name to this bearer? provenance
- What additional context distinguishes this bearer from others using the same name? boundary
Naming circumstances Records how the name came to be associated with the bearer.
Acquisition evidence
Identifies the reported naming act and participants.
Documented naming account
Capture who reportedly conferred or adopted the name and how that account is supported.
- Was the name reportedly conferred, adopted, or acquired through another locally described process? provenance
- Who participated in that process, and which evidence identifies their roles? provenance
Occasion and context
Places the naming account within its documented religious setting.
Naming event association
Record any supported connection to an occasion without deriving religious status from it.
- What occasion, date, and community are explicitly associated with the naming? provenance
- Which claims about the bearer's religious status require evidence beyond this naming account? boundary
Forms and meanings Separates attested representations from interpretations of the name.
Linguistic representations
Records how the name is written and pronounced in evidenced usage.
Attested form correspondence
Link name forms only where their correspondence is supported.
- Which scripts, spellings, transliterations, and pronunciations are attested for this bearer? provenance
- Is a proposed alternative form a transliteration, translation, separate name, or unresolved match? boundary
Interpretive attribution
Preserves the source and scope of explanations of the name.
Sourced name meaning
Distinguish lexical analysis from an interpretation attributed to the naming context.
- What meanings are supported by linguistic sources or explanations from the bearer or naming participants? provenance
- Which explanations concern literal wording, and which concern a religious aspiration or contextual interpretation? definition
Tradition-specific significance Examines naming conventions and limits on what the name can establish.
Documented naming conventions
Investigates whether components follow an evidenced community convention.
Convention applicability
Record a naming pattern only with evidence that it applies to this attribution.
- Does a source explain any component as part of a lineage, generation, teacher, or community naming convention? provenance
- What evidence shows that the proposed convention applies to this bearer's name? boundary
Limits of religious inference
Separates name interpretation from independently established roles and standing.
Name and credential distinction
Require separate support for claims about ordination, teaching authority, transmission, or attainment.
- Which religious relationships are explicitly documented, and which are merely suggested by the name? boundary
- What independent evidence must an agent obtain before presenting the bearer as holding a religious office or credential? action
Use and name history Guides present use while preserving contextual and historical distinctions.
Appropriate address
Determines how the name should be used in the intended interaction.
Contextual use preferences
Record relevant preferences without inferring that a religious name is either public or restricted.
- What form of address and pronunciation does the bearer prefer in this context? action
- What documented preferences govern displaying the Dharma name or linking it to other names? action
Temporal name relations
Distinguishes coexistence, replacement, and uncertain relationships between names.
Documented name transitions
Preserve evidence about changes without assuming a later name invalidates an earlier one.
- What evidence establishes whether another name supplements, replaces, or is unrelated to this Dharma name? provenance
- Which name form should an agent use for a present interaction versus a reference to a historical period? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of Dharma name this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Information and virtual systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- INF
- Domain
- INF.MED
What it is Filled
A Dharma name is a religious name given or adopted in a Buddhist tradition to mark a person's relationship to Buddhist teaching and practice, often upon taking refuge, receiving precepts, or entering monastic life.
In scope
- Name forms in their recorded scripts, transliterations, and translations
- Attribution to a bearer within an identified Buddhist context
- Evidence about conferral, adoption, recognition, or subsequent changes
- Attributed meanings and naming conventions
- Preferred, permitted, historical, and disputed uses of the name
Out of scope
- The bearer's complete biography or civil identity
- Buddhist teachings and doctrines as independent subjects
- Ritual procedures for refuge, ordination, or other ceremonies
- Institutional membership, teaching credentials, and lineage succession
- Honorifics, offices, and titles except where needed to distinguish them from the name
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to recognise a Dharma name, record its Buddhist naming context, assess evidence for its attribution, and respect the bearer's preferences when using it.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Evidence identifies the designation as a Dharma name in a specified Buddhist context, rather than merely a name with a Buddhist meaning.
- The designation functions as a name for a bearer; any adjacent title or honorific is identified separately where evidence allows.
- Its relationship to a birth name, civil name, or other religious name is recorded rather than assumed to be replacement or equivalence.
- Identical spelling does not establish identical bearers, naming events, or religious affiliations.
- Use of the name alone does not establish ordination, teaching authority, lineage transmission, or spiritual attainment.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Assign Dharma names in place of a teacher in the tradition.
- Infer a person's religion from a name without their disclosure.
- Mock or trivialize religious names.
Only with a human decision
- Recording someone's religious name in public records.
May
- Explain Dharma names and their use in Buddhist traditions from cited sources.
- Use a person's Dharma name when they ask to be addressed by it.
Moral aspects Filled
- Religious names express personal commitment and belong to the person.
- Religion is sensitive personal data.
Who is affected
- Practitioners
- Buddhist communities
Owners Filled
Steward
The teacher or community that gives it; the bearer holds the name.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q1417657 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.dharma-name
- Wikidata: Q1543672 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1543672)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Recorded name forms: Attested written or spoken forms, with language, script, and representation type
- Bearer attribution: Named bearer linked to supporting evidence; confirmed, reported, disputed, or unresolved
- Naming context: Identified tradition, community, teacher, institution, or other documented context
- Acquisition account: Reported conferral, adoption, or other locally described process; unresolved
- Naming occasion: Documented event or circumstance, with date precision and evidence when available
- Meaning attribution: Interpretation linked to its author or source, language, and evidential status
- Use status: Currently used, historical, superseded, disputed, or unknown, qualified by context and date
- Use preference: Bearer-stated or documented preferences for address, display, pronunciation, and disclosure; unknown
Plane INF: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Appears as a name in the language of the tradition, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Tibetan, sometimes used with a title.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Attribute a Dharma name to a bearer using documented naming evidence.
- Compare written forms and flag uncertain equivalences for review.
- Present sourced meanings while preserving competing interpretations.
- Choose a form of address appropriate to the bearer's stated preferences and context.
- Trace documented name changes without erasing historical usage.
- Flag unsupported inferences from the name to rank, ordination, or spiritual authority.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Misuse can offend practitioners.
- Disclosure can expose a person's religion.
Standards and interfaces not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
No universal official naming standard governs Dharma names across Buddhist traditions, whose naming conventions depend on lineage and community.
Context of use required Filled
- A Dharma name is encountered in Buddhist communities when a person takes refuge, receives precepts or enters another recognized stage of religious practice.
- It may be used in ceremonies, community records and personal address, with its meaning and use depending on the tradition and the bearer's preferences.
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q1543672: Dharma name - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Dharma name - general description of the item
Open questions
- Which tradition-specific categories does this registry entry intend the English term 'Dharma name' to include, especially where refuge, ordination, or other religious names are distinguished?
- Should posthumously attributed Buddhist names fall within this entry or be linked to a neighbouring model?
- What evidence is sufficient to distinguish self-adoption, conferral, and community recognition when accounts disagree?
- Which documented naming conventions support interpreting shared name elements, and what exceptions limit those interpretations?
- How should unresolved relationships among multiple religious names be represented when the bearer's preferences or naming history are unavailable?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q1543672/spec.json