System Requirements for the 2004 Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar
The calendar files are in Adobe Reader format, and require Adobe Reader on your computer or on your handheld. (Adobe Reader is available for free from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) and comes pre-installed on many systems. Please choose the version of acrobat for your computer (there are individual versions for Windows, Mac, Pocket PC or Palm PC operating systems.) Please follow the download and installations instructions provided by Adobe.
The design used in the Adobe Reader file format for the calendar is suitable for a Windows for the Handheld PDA, and also works very well on a regular PC. The aspect ratio of each calendar page has been specifically set to fit on a standard Pocket PC screen, but the file also displays nicely on the screen of computers that read Adobe Acrobat formatted files. We recommend that you only load one or two months into your PDA at a time to conserve resources.
Digital Astrology
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| The entry page to the Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar. This file contains links to the individual monthly files containing the calendar information. By clicking on the "back" button on the cover page for each month, one hyperlink to the Calendar.pdf file, allowing easy navigation through multiple months. |
The Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar is an information retrieval and access system. The system works using standard hyperlinks within Acrobat documents. By clicking on different areas you can navigate between different days of the calendar and obtain the key astrological information for that day and explanations of that information.
There are 13 files on the CD; one for each month (numbered by the order of the month, such as 01.pdf for January), and one with links to each of the month files, named "calendar.pdf". For the desktop, it is easiest to load all the files into one directory and begin using the calendar by opening the Calendar.pdf file.
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| Each month box on this page of Calendar.pdf is a hyperlink to the individual monthly files with the detailed astrological information. |
By pressing "enter" on the cover page, you will be taken to a 12 month calendar page. Each month contains a link to the individual file for that month. For example, if you click on January, you will open the January file to the cover page for January.
Adobe Reader transparently loads each file for a separate month, allowing easy navigation to any date throughout the year. Indeed, The Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar provides an ideal platform for retrieving the ancient wisdom and cultural traditions of Tibetan astrology as digital information.
We do not recommend using Calendar.pdf on the PDA. Because of limited resources of the PDA, it is recommended that only one or two months be loaded, and each file be opened individually to access the information.
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| The entry page to the Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar. This file contains links to the individual monthly files containing the calendar information. The cover page for each month links back to this file, allowing easy hyperlinking through the months. |
Within each monthly file, the calendar provides complete calendar information for each day, drawing on three different calendar systems. These systems are explained in detail at the Nitartha website (www.nitartha.org; click on calendar), including the following:
- Western (Gregorian calendar) dates
- Major western holidays
- Corresponding Tibetan dates according to the Phukluk Tibetan calendar
- Corresponding Tibetan dates according to the Tsurluk Tibetan calendar
- Full and new moon days
- Buddhist holidays and practice days
Each calendar day also provides an "auspiciousness index" for that day by providing three different types of Tibetan astrological indicators of the appropriateness of the day for a particular type of activity:
- The daily element combination
- The occurrence of any Drubjor
- The daily great conjunction
The heart of the calendar information is available in individual day pages, which have all the astrological information available for that day. The legend page (below) depicts how to use the navigational aids and information available for each day. (The legend page illustrated is available in each calendar monthly file by clicking on the blue "i" icon available at the bottom.)
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The basic navigation aids in the page consist of the arrows and month icon. The two left and right arrows at the top of the page allow one to navigate to the previous or next day in the calendar. The month-calendar icon at the bottom of the page takes you to hyperlinks to the detailed daily information pages in the calendar.
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| A sample glossary page from the digital version of the calendar for the "earth-earth" element combination. |
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| Each day box in the 31 day calendar grid above is a link to the individual detailed information page. |
Unique to the Digital Complete Tibetan Calendar, each of the astrological indicators is directly linked to a glossary page explaining the import of that information. For example, if on January 10th (see image above), you want to look up an explanation of the Earth Fire element combination or the Banner Ruling Conjunction, just click on the names on the page and you will immediately go to the glossary explanation. All this information is available in both Roman and Tibetan script.
For the handheld user, each month is contained in a separate file to save memory space. It is recommended that the handheld use carry only a few months at a time and consult longer-range dates by using a regular PC or Mac to navigate through the full range of Adobe files. Each month can be separately loaded and deleted from the handheld through the standard Adobe PDA file management menu.
Also, each month contains additional information on the calendar system and sponsoring organizations at the end of the calendar file.
More information on the Tibetan calendar is available at the Nitartha International website. These instructions will also be posted on the Internet and updated as necessary. Please email any questions to calendar@nitartha.org.
The calendar is available for purchase from the Bodhi Dharma Store.