This collection of texts is entitled Exploring the Sacred, Ancient Path in the Original Words of the Buddha (Exploring the Path or ETP) because it hopes to offer the reader and the follower of the Buddha’s teaching a helpful survey and supportive resource for general, feasible application of the teaching.

Often Vipassana students ask where they can find the various suttas and background stories that S.N. Goenka refers to in his 10-day discourses. Now a treasure house and wellspring for anyone trying to locate those suttas is available. While this series is a Pali study program, readers who only want to read the English translations and additional notes will also find clarification and inspiration on their journey through the Buddha’s teaching!

Initially planned as a simple handout of selected suttas for participants of a Pāli workshop, it turned into an online Pāli Learning Program with vocabulary tools, audio for pronunciation and an introduction for each lesson. The introduction highlights the context of the sutta with references to the Tipitaka, as well as notes from the commentaries. Furthermore, the introductions portray the establishment of the Dhamma, from Brahma Sahampati’s request to the Buddha to teach it, to the historical background of the councils, to the lineage of teachers — Ledi Sayadaw to Sayagi U Ba Khin — who maintained it.

Exploring the Path as a course represents a collection of Pāli lessons that are brought to life in bite-sized sections with custom glossaries that allow a new student to quickly absorb some of the most valuable teachings of the Buddha right from the beginning of the course. The approach to learning is one driven by a student’s desire to understand the underlying content. Rather than approaching the Pāli language with a list of vocabulary and linguistic rules, the lessons use custom glossaries to ease the student into the more complex tasks. The learning then comes from familiarity rather than memorization. The course aims to keep the student motivated through the unfolding of these ancient texts; learning the language becomes a natural by-product of the process. It also intends to stir a student to further self-study by referring to the complete suttas via online resources, aiding one to become more familiar with the Tipiṭaka.

A concise ‘Introduction and Guide to Pāli Pronunciation and Grammar’ precedes the lessons as a quick tool to find or look up syntax, declensions or conjugations whenever needed.

Most lessons are expected to take a Pāli student somewhere between 20 and 45 minutes to complete. These lessons are intended to be sufficient keeping a student engaged, but not so overwhelming that they can’t fit into an already busy schedule, even so to maintain their original spirit, some lessons include longer passages than others. Some suttas are divided into more parts and presented in different sub-chapters according to the provided contents. Each lesson is introduced with a short summary, an Introduction, and Pāli and English presented side-by-side with selective vocabulary. The student is encouraged additionally to refer to one of the various Pāli dictionaries for further references. Someone who prefers to read the Pāli directly without the English translation, undergo some vocabulary training and listen to the audio recordings may refer to the online version.

Endorsements

Read more about Klaus Nothnagel and the making of his Pāli course Exploring the Sacred, Ancient Path in the Original Words of the Buddha.

Watch the interview with Klaus Nothnagel about 'Exploring the Path'.