This collection, entitled Exploring the Sacred, Ancient Path in the Original Words of the Buddha (Exploring the Path or ETP), offers readers and followers of the Buddha s teaching a comprehensive survey and a practical resource for applying these ancient truths to daily life. While the series serves as a Pāli study program, those who wish to focus solely on the English translations and commentary will find profound clarification and inspiration for their journey.

Part One of this collection highlights the good fortune of living in a period where the Dhamma is available in both theory (pariyatti) and practice (pa ipatti) while Part Two initiates a deep dive into the Noble Eightfold Path (ariyo a ha giko maggo) starting with right view (Samm di hi) and right thought (Samm sa kappo).

Part Three, Shunning All Evil and Doing Good! - The Necessity of Establishing a Meritorious Lifestyle, continues to underscore the essential role of ethical conduct (s la) as the foundation for spiritual progress on the path. The chosen texts focus on the basic principles of the three components of moral conduct, right speech (samm v c ), right action (sammā kammanto) and right livelihood(sammā-ājīvo). Sammā vācā, noble, right speech primarily defined as absence of false, divisive, harsh, and frivolous speech is grounded in truthfulness, empathy, and kindness. It embraces justice and sincerity, and is filled with a genuine attitude of sympathetic feeling towards others. Sammā kammanto, right action, refers to actions that avoid harmful effects and generate beneficial outcomes for one and others. It is built on the profound realization that just as a person cherishes their own life and health, so do all other beings. Based on such comprehension, one abandons harmful actions and fosters sympathetic support. Likewise, in regards to sammā-ājīvo right, wholesome, upright livelihood the same reflection helps to maintain an attitude of honesty, righteousness, and empathy ensuring one s occupation and livelihood remain virtuous. The selected suttas along with their English translation and introductions allow deeper discernment into these moral factors, their consequences and depict principles that help to adopt them properly.

Key Features of Part Three:

• Right speech (sammā vācā): Defined as the absence of false, divisive, harsh, or frivolous talk, this factor is rooted in truthfulness, empathy, and kindness. It fosters a genuine attitude of sincerity and sympathetic concern for others.
• Right action (sammā kammanto): This involves choosing behaviors that avoid harm and generate benefit for oneself and others. It is built on the profound realization that just as one cherish one's own life and health, so do all other beings. This comprehension naturally leads one to abandon harmful activities in favor of supportive, compassionate ones.
• Right livelihood (sammā-ājīvo): By applying these same reflections to one's career, a student maintains an attitude of honesty and righteousness, ensuring their occupation remains virtuous and upright.
• Daily-life integration: Selected suttas, accompanied by English translations and insightful introductions, provide a deeper discernment into these moral factors, their consequences and the principles needed to integrate them into daily life.

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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.

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 introductions to each sutta. Each lesson is presented with a short summary, an introduction highlighting the context of the sutta with references to the Tipiṭaka, the commentaries, the historical background, and quotes offering a deeper understanding of the respective content as well as Pāli and English presented side-by-side with selective vocabulary

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 Tipi aka.

A concise Introduction and Guide to Pāli Pronunciation and Grammar can be found in the first book, Part One: Dullabho, offering a convenient tool to look up Pāli 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.

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Endorsements

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

 

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