Pali Study and Practice Club
as an alternative to my Sanskrit Study Club,
this is a weekly online study group focusing on Pali texts from the Suttanipata
and other Khuddaka Nikaya and Anguttara Nikaya classics,
weekly on Mondays
08:00-08:45 AM GMT (London Summer Time)
09:00-09:45 AM CET (Brussels Summer Time)
15:00-15:45 PM HKT (Hong Kong)
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what this is
A weekly 45 minutes Pali reading club - where prior knowledge of Pali and/or Sanskrit is not necessary. One by one, we peruse the verses of some of the most universally liked spiritual and philosophical texts in the Theravada Buddhist tradition. We read the lines in Pali and attempt translations in English, cautiously deliberating the meaning of each word and each phrase - while participants are free to volunteer interpretations of their own at leisure.
Khuddaka Nikaya
The Khuddaka Nikaya ("Small Collection") part of the Pali canon represents the most accessible and therefore the most popular collection of Pali sources - offering the best part of the Buddha's basic teachings. It consists of seven collections of poems and aphorisms:
Khuddakapatha (Khp)
Dhammapada (Dhp)
Udanavagga (Ud)
Itivuttaka (Iti)
Suttanipata (Sn)
Theragatha (Thag)
Therigatha (Thig)
Although the focus of this reading club is on Suttanipata texts, we will occasionally read comparable relevant text material as well. Here, for instance, is a choice of what we have been studying with previous groups:
1 Mangala Sutta (KN, Khp 2, Sn 3)
In The Discourse on Blessed Conditions, after a brief incantation, the reader is presented with a poetic listing of 38 blessed conditions that lead to a meaningful life.
2 Ratana Sutta (KN, Khp 6, Sn 2)
A poem in praise of The Triple Gem of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dhamma (teaching), and the Sangha (the community). This poem is known by its mesmerizing repetitive verse etena sacchena suvatthi hotu - by this truth, may there be happiness.
3 Karaniyametta Sutta (KN, Sn 1)
The Buddha's Discourse on the Practice of Loving Kindness - with an anatomy of the atthakusala, the perfect individual, embodiment of supreme kindness in her circles, her community, and everywhere.
4 Khaggavissana Sutta (KN, Sn1)
Better known as The Rhinoceros Teaching, this wonderful text shows how the only right way is going your own way - and eko care khaggavisāṇakappo - wander alone, like (the horn of) a rhinoceros.
5 Kalama Sutta (AN 3.65)
Also known as the Kesamutti Sutta, this short teaching is actually part of the Anguttara Nikaya ("Book of Gradually Increasing Discourses"). A short recipe for critical thinking, free inquiry, and skillful decision-making.
6 Dhammapada (KN 2, Dhp)
The Way of Truth - probably the best-known book in the Pali Buddhist canon, an anthology of basic Buddhist ethical teachings in an attractive, simple, aphoristic style.
illuminated Pali book in Sinhala script
get an idea of the Rhinoceros Sutta (KN, Sn1), and of how I met with my teacher in this article on Medium
join this program and expect to
~ meet like-minded people from all over the world in an online learning group, with lots of peer-to-peer learning and cooperative exploration
~ have an experienced student and teacher of Pali and Buddhist Studies at hand, to assist you with every issue and help you find (your own) answers to every question
~ progress in small iterations, using a unique, playful, and no-nonsense, "exformative" methodology - in a mixed group setting
~ have a choice to learn or refresh the basics of Pali and its relationship to Sanskrit - or concentrate on the teaching entirely and take the Pali parts as mere inspirational music (as if you were listening to Gregorian chants)
~ build a (flexible) pattern of repetitive group study in your weeks/months
If you are an organizer, riding the Ticket Tailor train through our affiliate link provides us with a small incentive at no extra cost to you.
your Pali study club facilitator
My name is Francis Laleman. I live with my family alongside the green corridor in Singapore, where I love to watch tropical birds from my study window. Originally from Belgium, I started combining odd jobs with teaching Sanskrit and Historical Buddhism in the late 1970s. I extensively traveled to all corners of Asia, often staying at Bodhgaya during monsoons - and eventually landing in Buduruvagala, Sri Lanka, where I committed to counterbalancing my academic background with reading and memorizing large parts of the Buddhist canon under the guidance of the late Rev Obbegoda Dhammatilaka Thera, then the incumbent monk of the Buduruvagala hermitage. After this, I moved from academics to social work, and later, to becoming an experimental, non-formal educationalist, a designer of learner experiences, a teacher-trainer, a workshop facilitator, and a teacher of Agile philosophy and frameworks. I picked up teaching Sanskrit, Pali, and Buddhism again with the first lockdown in March 2020 - and have been developing a new, unique online learning Sanskrit and Pali method to cater to a variety of students and practitioners from all over the world.
how to register
You can join the group at any time. There is no beginning and no end.
Optionally, you can register for a free intake session with the group facilitator.
This one-on-one getting-to-know-each-other meeting is then scheduled on a mutually agreed time.
To get membership of the Pali Study Club, buy a self-chosen number of study credits at 10 € each.
You can also buy 10 learning credits and get one free.
You need one learning credit for each session (45 minutes).
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my teacher: Rev Obbegoda Dhammatilaka Thera