- Home
- The editions we cite
Our sources
The editions we cite
Public reference editions for each tradition, and how citations are checked.
The Guide links to public reference editions so that every citation can be opened and compared. Translations differ — sometimes materially — so we name the edition and encourage readers to consult others, including those preferred within their own community.
How deep each link goes
Wherever an edition supports it, a citation opens at the exact passage: verse (Bible Gateway, Quran.com, Sefaria, Access to Insight, holy-bhagavad-gita.org), paragraph (Bahá'í Reference Library: each Hidden Word, Gleanings section and Aqdas paragraph), chapter row (ctext.org's Tao Te Ching), section (Chamberlain's Kojiki) or entry (Encyclopedia of Shinto). Where an edition offers only page-level addresses — SikhiToTheMax cites by Ang, Wikisource's Nihongi by book — the link opens that page and the citation names the passage so you can find it. No citation on an editorial page links to a bare home page.
How citations are checked
Editorial pages cite only passages that were checked against the linked edition before publishing. For live AI answers, the model is instructed to cite only passages it can identify by book, chapter and verse, to prefer well-known passages over obscure ones, and to say plainly when it is unsure. If a citation cannot be verified, it should not be presented as authoritative — and if you find one that is wrong, we want to know.
What we do not cite
We do not cite paraphrase websites, unattributed quotations, or secondary summaries as if they were scripture. Where a concept comes from tradition or later commentary rather than the primary text (for example Maimonides on repentance, or the Engishiki liturgies), we say so.