I’m planning to start a new online Pāli learning class starting Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 6pm (US East Coast time) or 11pm (UTC), which is, for my location in Brisbane, Australia, 9am Monday, February 3, 2025. The class will run bi-weekly (that is every two weeks), not weekly, as previous courses I’ve been involved in have.
Class Registration
Please indicate your interest in joining this class simply by responding to this thread. I request that you include in your response your name, what time zone you are in, and whether you have any prior Pāli learning experience. I look forward to working with you all.
There is no perfect time slot to suit everybody in the different time zones around the globe, unfortunately, and this new course, will again be at a generally convenient time in North and South America, New Zealand, and Australia, and East and South-East Asia, but not so good for those in Europe and Africa. My apologies to those in these latter time zones, but this is the only time-slot that conveniently fits in with my own schedule.
Class Textbook
The textbook we will be using will again be a New Course in Reading Pāli by Gair and Karunatillake. Those of you wishing to join should arrange to get themselves a copy of this book (hard-copy, preferably) and be committed, serious students willing to attend online classes regularly and spend several hours each week doing the assigned homework. Note: Although learning Pāli is very satisfying, I should warn you that it is not a ‘trivial pursuit’ and takes some significant, committed, and persistent effort. Dilletantes are not welcome.
I would urge all who plan on joining this class to use the time between now and the start date to study as much as you can of the first 10 chapters of the Pāli Primer by Lily de Silva. This is freely available in several online versions and here is one:
Pali Primer De Silva.pdf (356.5 KB)
Class Cost
There is no formal cost for the course, as I’m happy to offer my service as a teacher freely. My personal reward comes from the satisfaction of finding so many people interested in learning Pāli. But, I’m also a firm believer in the value of the principle of Dāna, where students can both show their gratitude for learning and cultivate their own generosity, by offering a monetary donation of whatever amount is comfortable (monastics excepted, of course). Since I don’t need anything personally, I would be happy if those who are moved and able to offer dāna for the class would donate to either of these two organizations:
Buddhist Global Relief (Bhikkhu Bodhi’s charitable organization tackling hunger around the world), or Sutta Central itself, which constantly seeks resources to fund the great work they do bringing the Buddha’s words to everybody around the world. See links below:
HELP US CREATE A WORLD in which all are free from hunger and poverty. Donate Now HELP US
