> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.urantia.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# World religions texts

> Public domain texts of the world's religions, numbered the way people cite them and linked to the Urantia Papers in both directions.

The API hosts public domain texts of the world's religions. Each one is numbered the way people cite it and linked to the Urantia paragraphs closest in meaning. Most of them belong to the religions that Paper 131, "The World's Religions", summarizes.

| Text | Religion | Translation | Passages | Paper 131 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6 | Cynicism | R. D. Hicks, 1925 | 105 sections | 131:1 |
| Discourses 3.22, "On the Calling of a Cynic" | Cynicism | W. A. Oldfather, 1928 | 22 blocks, sections 1 to 109 | 131:1 |
| The Dhammapada | Buddhism | F. Max Muller, 1881 | 414 verses (423 numbers) | 131:3 |
| The Bhagavad Gita | Hinduism | Annie Besant, 4th edition, 1922 | 18 chapters, 701 verses | 131:4 |
| Shinto Oracles | Shinto | W. G. Aston, 1905 | 15 oracles | 131:7 |
| The Tao Te Ching | Taoism | James Legge, 1891 | 81 chapters, 236 paragraphs | 131:8 |
| The Analects | Confucianism | James Legge, 1861 | 20 books, 499 chapters | 131:9 |
| The Meaning of the Glorious Koran | Islam | Marmaduke Pickthall, 1930 | 114 surahs, 6,236 verses | none |
| The Japji | Sikhism | Max Arthur Macauliffe, 1909 | 40 passages | none |

The Paper 131 column names the section headed with the religion. Paper 131 has no section headed Islam or Sikhism.

Diogenes Laertius wrote a biography of the Cynics, not scripture, and the Epictetus text is one chapter of Epictetus's Discourses. For Judaism and Christianity, use the [Bible endpoints](/bible). Zoroastrianism and Jainism are planned.

## List the texts

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures
```

Each entry names its translator, year, source, and license, and `notes` says how the text is numbered or selected:

```json theme={null}
{
  "id": "dhammapada-muller-1881",
  "slug": "dhammapada",
  "religion": "Buddhism",
  "title": "The Dhammapada",
  "translator": "F. Max Muller",
  "year": 1881,
  "refPrefix": "Dhp",
  "urantiaSection": "131:3",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2017",
  "license": "Public domain in the United States",
  "divisionLabel": "chapter",
  "unitLabel": "verse",
  "passageCount": 414,
  "refLevels": 1,
  "notes": null
}
```

`GET /scriptures/{corpus}` returns one text with its chapters (books, for the Analects) and the first and last reference of each. The corpus can be the slug, the id, or the ref prefix: `bhagavad-gita`, `bhagavad-gita-besant-1922`, and `bg` are the same.

## Get passages

```bash theme={null}
# One verse
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/bhagavad-gita/2.47
# A range, up to 50
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/bg/2.47-49
# A whole chapter
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/tao-te-ching/25
# Dhammapada verse 183
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/dhammapada/183
```

```json theme={null}
{
  "id": "dhammapada-muller-1881:Dhp 183",
  "ref": "Dhp 183",
  "division": 14,
  "divisionTitle": "The Buddha (The Awakened)",
  "text": "Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the teaching of (all) the Awakened."
}
```

References:

* **Bhagavad Gita:** chapter and verse, `BG 2.47`
* **Koran:** surah and verse, `Quran 2.255`, in the standard count of 6,236 verses
* **Analects:** book and chapter, `Analects 15.23`
* **Diogenes Laertius:** book and section, `DL 6.20`. Each section also names the life it belongs to, such as Diogenes
* **Tao Te Ching:** chapter and paragraph, `TTC 25.1`. Ask for `25` to get the whole chapter
* **Epictetus:** book, chapter, and section, `Epictetus 3.22.45`. Oldfather numbers every fifth section, so each passage covers up to five sections, and `3.22.47` returns `Epictetus 3.22.45-49`. Ask for `3.22` to get the whole chapter
* **Dhammapada:** the verses are numbered straight through the book, so `Dhp 183` is verse 183, not chapter 183. Muller combines a few pairs of verses, such as `Dhp 58-59`. Asking for either number returns the pair
* **Japji:** `Japji 0` is the opening (the Mul Mantar), `Japji 1` to `Japji 38` are the pauris, and `Japji 39` is the closing slok
* **Shinto oracles:** `Oracle 1` to `Oracle 15`. Aston does not number them, so the numbers follow his order, and each oracle carries its shrine as its title

`refLevels` on each text says how many numbers a full reference has. The prefix is optional, and `2:47` works the same as `2.47`.

## Urantia paragraphs for a passage

```bash theme={null}
curl https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/dhammapada/5/urantia-parallels
```

Returns the passage, the chunk that holds it, and the 10 closest Urantia paragraphs. A chunk is a group of short passages of about one Urantia paragraph in length. A Tao Te Ching chunk is one whole chapter.

```json theme={null}
{
  "data": {
    "chunk": {
      "id": "dhammapada-muller-1881:Dhp 3",
      "reference": "Dhp 3-5",
      "text": "... For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule."
    },
    "urantiaParallels": [
      {
        "standardReferenceId": "140:3.15",
        "paperTitle": "The Ordination of the Twelve",
        "text": "“I say to you: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you. ...",
        "similarity": 0.38,
        "rank": 3
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

## Passages for a Urantia paragraph

Add `scriptureParallels` to `include` on any single-paragraph endpoint:

```bash theme={null}
curl 'https://api.urantia.dev/paragraphs/131:8.3?include=scriptureParallels'
curl 'https://api.urantia.dev/paragraphs/2:5.1?include=bibleParallels,scriptureParallels'
```

The response gains a `scriptureParallels` array: the 3 closest chunks from each text, 27 in all, grouped by text in the order of the list. Each entry carries its `corpus` (title, religion, translator, year), the chunk `reference` and `text`, and the `similarity` and `rank`. It also works with `format=rag`.

## Search by meaning

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST https://api.urantia.dev/scriptures/search/semantic \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"q":"do your duty without attachment to results","limit":5}'
```

Searches every text, or one with `"corpus": "bhagavad-gita"`. Each result carries its top Urantia paragraphs; set `urantiaParallelLimit` from 0 to 10 (default 3).

## How the links are made

The links are semantic parallels, not curated ones. Each chunk and each Urantia paragraph is embedded with OpenAI's `text-embedding-3-large`, and the closest pairs are stored in both directions. A link means "close in meaning by this model". It does not claim that two teachings are the same. Use the links as starting points for reading, and as context for AI agents.

As a check, we asked whether each text finds its own religion's section of Paper 131. For the Dhammapada, the Gita, the Tao Te Ching, and the Analects, 69% to 93% of the chunks have that section in their top 10 Urantia paragraphs. 60% of the Shinto oracles have 131:7 in their top 10. By chance it would be well under 1%.

For a study that compares Paper 131 with earlier anthologies of world scripture, see [Matthew Block's source studies](https://squarecircles.com/source-studies/).

## Sources

| Text | Source |
| - | - |
| Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6 | [Wikisource, Hicks translation](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_VI) |
| Discourses 3.22 | [Wikisource, Oldfather translation](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Epictetus,_the_Discourses_as_reported_by_Arrian,_the_Manual,_and_Fragments/Book_3/Chapter_22) |
| The Dhammapada | [Project Gutenberg 2017](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2017), from Sacred Books of the East, volume 10 |
| The Bhagavad Gita | [Wikisource, Besant 4th edition](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bhagavad-Gita_\(Besant_4th\)) |
| Shinto Oracles | [Wikisource, Aston, Shinto: The Way of the Gods, chapter 14](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Shinto:_The_Way_of_the_Gods/Chapter_14). The oracles come from the Wa Rongo (1669) |
| The Tao Te Ching | [Project Gutenberg 216](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/216), from Sacred Books of the East, volume 39 |
| The Analects | [Project Gutenberg 4094](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4094) |
| The Meaning of the Glorious Koran | [Project Gutenberg 16955](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16955), which prints three translations side by side. Only Pickthall's is used |
| The Japji | [Wikisource, Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, volume 1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sikh_Religion/Volume_1/Japji) |

The text keeps the translator's own words and spelling, including the parentheses that Muller, Legge, and Pickthall use for words they added. Page headers, footnotes, and the Chinese and Sanskrit lines are not included. Aston's own summaries of oracles he does not quote are not included either.


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