Who Wants to Learn Pāli - take 4 (Gair and Karunatillake)

Events Pali Course
1

I’m planning to start a new online Pāli learning class via Zoom starting Monday, March 9, 2026, at 5pm in my location in Brisbane, Australia (UTC +10). This is morning time in the UK, Europe, and Africa; late morning in Central Asia; and early afternoon in East and South Asia. The class will run bi-weekly (that is every two weeks). Check your own time zone for compatibility.

As we know, there is no perfect time slot to suit everybody in all the different time zones around the globe, unfortunately, and this new course will not be at a generally convenient time for those in North and South America. My apologies to those in these areas, but my recent classes have suited your time zones while not being good for Europe, etc., and it is time to balance things up a little. I am planning (hoping) to offer another Pāli beginner’s class more suited to your time zones sometime later in 2026. Keep an eye on this space.

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 full name, what time zone you are in, and whether you have any prior Pāli learning experience (none is required, but it is good to know where people are at). I look forward to working with you all.

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. Dilettantes 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 carefully 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:

Buddhist Global Relief

DONATE

HELP US CREATE A WORLD in which all are free from hunger and poverty. Donate Now HELP US

https://suttacentral.net/donations?lang=en

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John, what a generous offering! :folded_hands:

Thanks to your take 1 course, Gair and Karunatillake’s primer is a go-to for pāli refresh. I was just reviewing “Further Reading IV” on the plane the other day! It was and continues to be my inspiration for learning the Numbered Discourses Collection (AN).

I highly encourage people to sign up. No matter what time zone.

:folded_hands:

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Hi John, I would like to join please. I’m still in Brisbane :blush: Thanks, Casey Shields

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Thanks for your kind words, Beth!

I’m glad you are still keeping up your Pāli practice. :folded_hands:

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Dōgen Simsapa, GMT +3 :slight_smile:

(7am in my time zone, so that should be fine, if a tad early!)

Previously, I’ve translated Therīgāthā into Turkish, but I’m still an auto-didact with Pāli, so I’ve been looking for an opportunity like this to start from the bottom and follow along properly, also to get a feel for how courses like this go. :slight_smile:

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Hello Dogen,

You would be most welcome to join the class. If you are indeed in Turkiye (UTC +3), then you are just 7 hours behind my local time (UTC +10), therefore, if my arithmetic is correct, that means 10am, not 7am. So not too early, after all!

If you’ve translated the Therīgātha into Turkish, then indeed your Pāli should be quite strong already. You’re welcome to join the class for a ‘refresher’ but just understand there will likely be some in the class with no Pāli experience at all, so the pace will be gentle at the beginning.

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Great to have you back, Casey. I hope Ryan can join the class too.

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Hello, @johnk ,
I am interested if the time is 4 AM (Brazil Time), as I assume it is.

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If it’s once a week, and depending on the day, I can definitely make it work. I really don’t want to miss this opportunity, as it will help me immensely with my project of tracing parallels between Satyasiddhi citations and the Pali Canon. And, of course, other things, such as being able to read the * Aniccasannasutta* in Pali for discernment, etc

Could you please let me know which day it will be and how many times a week?

Thanks a lot :pray:

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Hi John,

I would very much like to join as well, please.

My Pāli level is still very introductory, I’m up to Chapter 4 of Lily de Silva’s Pāli Primer and I intend to complete Chapter 10 before your classes commence.

Thanks, Ryan Shields, Brisbane timezone

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Excellent, Ryan. Glad to have you aboard!

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Have you got everything sorted now, Paolo?

Yes, it’s 4am Brazil time, and on Mondays, every 2nd week starting March 9th. Look forward to meeting you online.

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Yes, it worked out! The book should arrive here in February.
I am very happy with this. Thanks again

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Good day. Thank you for this opportunity.

Full name: Stefan Ignis;
Time zone: Madrid (UTC+1 in winter, UTC+2 in summer);
Prior Pāli learning experience: none.

Thank you for considering my application for this course.

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Hi John,

I wish to join the Pali course.

I’m Nirosha Moonasinghe from Sri Lanka ( GMT +5:30)

I have completed Palibhasavatharanaya 1 -by Venerable Polwatte Buddhadhatta Thro.

Thank you

With Metta

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Welcome @Nirosha and @caelusmut . Look forward to seeing you online in class.

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Hi, @johnk , so sorry, I think I forgot to complete all the necessary points.

  • Full Name: Paulo de Oliveira
  • Time Zone: Brasil, Curitiba, Paraná.
  • No prior Pali learning.

Many thanks :folded_hands:t3:

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Namo Buddhaya,

Please sign me up for the class. My name is Sami rishi and I am located in Thailand🙏

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Hi

I would sincerly like to join the class, and thank you for taking the time to educate us. However, I work for the emergency services in Western Australia. Thus, even if I can make the time zone, with such an erratic roster including callout guidelines there is no certainty of participation. Could these courses possibly be recorded?

Meta

Ian

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Hi @johnk, thank you so much for offering this again. I’m in California, but still would like to try to make it. Though Sundays at 10 or 11pm PT is rather frightening, it at least is guaranteed to be open for me, which can’t be said for any more sane class time! I’m near the beginning of de Silva (but had a year of beginning Sanskrit in grad school, which helps), and I love the deadline for getting further into it before this class starts.

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I would like to join the class! My name is Joseph Zizys and my timezone is eastern standard time (victoria).

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