1. Acceptance and eligibility
These Terms & Conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of the ReadZen app (“ReadZen,” “the app”), operated by Fabian Trunz (“we,” “us”). By using ReadZen — viewing a ReadZen post, opening the reader, or using the composer — you accept these Terms. You must be at least 13 years old (or older where your local law requires) and eligible to use Reddit under Reddit’s User Agreement. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the app.
2. What ReadZen is
ReadZen is a free, non-commercial, scholarly reader for classical Zen/Chan Buddhist texts, running as an app on Reddit’s Developer Platform (Devvit). Its features include:
- reading passages from the Chinese Buddhist canon (including CBETA texts) alongside English translations and full citations;
- full-text search across the corpus;
- profiles of Zen masters — names, dates, schools, and teacher–student relationships;
- an interactive dharma-transmission (lineage) graph;
- a dictionary of Zen and Buddhist terms;
- browsing classic cases (kōans);
- sharing a chosen passage — optionally with your own commentary — as a Reddit post or comment, and expanding ReadZen citation links into readable text;
- and, from time to time, a rotating daily featured case (a “Case of the Day”).
ReadZen may add, change, or remove scholarly features over time. There are no fees, no ads, no premium tiers, and no commercial purpose.
3. Acceptable use
You agree to use ReadZen only in ways consistent with Reddit’s User Agreement, Content Policy, and subreddit rules, and with applicable law. Do not use the app to spam, harass, mislead, evade subreddit moderation, or post content you have no right to post. We may cease serving content to any use that violates these Terms or Reddit’s rules.
4. Texts, licensing, and attribution
- The texts. The corpus ReadZen displays consists of classical Buddhist source texts (which are in the public domain) and community-produced editions and translations published under open licenses — principally Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0), with some materials under public-domain dedication or other permissive terms. Sources include the CBETA electronic canon and the OpenZenTexts project; English translations are contributed by the ReadZen community.
- Attribution travels with the text. Every passage the app renders or publishes carries its citation — work title (Chinese and English), CBETA identifier where applicable, attributed master, translator, and license. If you reproduce or adapt CC BY-SA-licensed passages from ReadZen elsewhere, you must preserve that attribution and license any derivative under the same share-alike terms, as the license requires.
- Your content is yours. Commentary, questions, and posts you create through ReadZen are your own user content, owned by you and governed by Reddit’s User Agreement — we claim no ownership of it.
- Reddit’s marks are Reddit’s. ReadZen uses no Reddit trademarks, logos, or branding, and nothing in the app or these Terms implies otherwise.
- The app’s own source code has its own software license, separate from the text corpus licensing above.
5. Posting and commenting as you
ReadZen publishes posts or comments only when you explicitly and manually trigger it — for example, by pressing “Post to r/…” in the composer. Such content is attributed to you: it is either submitted from your account with your consent through Reddit’s platform mechanism, or submitted by the app’s account with a visible attribution line naming you. The app never publishes automatically on your behalf, and no core reading feature requires you to publish anything. You are responsible for content you choose to publish.
6. Data practices
ReadZen collects almost no personal data, sends no Reddit user data off-platform, sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and never sells data or trains AI on it. Full details, including retention and deletion, are in the ReadZen Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.
7. Disclaimers
ReadZen is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. In particular:
- No warranty of textual accuracy. The texts, editions, and translations are historical and community-scholarly materials; they may contain transcription errors, variant readings, or translation choices open to debate. ReadZen is a reading aid, not an authoritative critical edition, and nothing in it constitutes religious, professional, or any other advice.
- No warranty of availability. The app depends on Reddit’s platform and on public text hosts and may be interrupted, changed, or discontinued at any time.
8. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Fabian Trunz shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages — including loss of data, goodwill, or profits — arising from your use of, or inability to use, ReadZen. To the extent any liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability is limited to the amount you paid to use ReadZen, which is zero. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
9. Changes to these Terms
We may revise these Terms from time to time. The current version, with its effective date, will always be published at this address; material changes will be noted here. Your continued use of ReadZen after a revision takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
10. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Switzerland, without regard to conflict-of-law principles, and any disputes shall be brought in the courts of that jurisdiction — except where mandatory consumer-protection law of your place of residence provides otherwise. (Your relationship with Reddit remains governed by Reddit’s own User Agreement, independently of this clause.)
11. Independence from Reddit
ReadZen is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Reddit, Inc. Reddit provides the platform on which the app runs, and your use of Reddit — including all content you view or publish there — is additionally and independently governed by Reddit’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
12. Contact
Questions about these Terms: fabian.trunz@gmail.com (Fabian Trunz).