Pali Study Group
The Reader
This site includes a built-in reader for our selection of suttas, with translator footnotes and 4 color themes, which you can switch between via the 4 circles in the top right corner. This website can also be installed like an app, enabling a better reading experience. Simply follow the pop-up prompt and it will appear amongst your other applications
How it works
Open a section. Tap a footnote marker to read the note without losing your place. Swipe down to dismiss.
The selection
The selection of suttas, introductions to them, their translations, and translator footnotes all come directly from the excellent anthology, "In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikku Bodhi.
The Pali Cannon is a massive body of work, roughly 27 times larger than the english bible.
It's simply too much for a newcomer to navigate through in a edifying way without a guide; the anthological work of Bhikku Bodhi is being used here to make our time studying this set of ancient texts significantly more fruitful than it would be otherwise. His work is incredible and we owe it a great debt; this study group may very well have not been possible without it.
That being said, the scope of his anthology is simply too large for us to effectively go through as a group in a timely manner; some editorial decisions have been made as to what to keep. This leads to some strange moments in the introductions he has written that we have included in the reader, like when he mentions chapters that are not included in our selections from his anthology.
We considered editing the introductions to scrub out these confusing mentions but decided not to; to do that felt too disrepectful.
If your curiousity is peaked by what is mentioned, we highly encourage you to pick up a copy of the complete anthology yourself.
Meetups
| Topic | Meeting Link | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outline, Purpose, and Conduct | TBD | 06/17 | 19:30 |
| Approaching the Dhamma | TBD | 07/01 | 19:30 |
| The Human Condition | TBD | 07/15 | 19:30 |
| The Path to Liberation | TBD | 07/29 | 19:30 |
| Mastering the Mind | TBD | 08/12 | 19:30 |
Links to the Zoom meetings are hidden until the day of to deter bots (gotta keep the ants away from the picnic).
Meeting Conduct
It is our hope that we will have a wide variety of participants with a large variety of experiences and perspectives.
It is our sincere hope that amongst the group there will be Athiests, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Taoists, Agnostics, etc, all under one roof.
But how under these conditions are we to maintain a group dynamic that does not cause harm and is edifying for all members?
Simple. There is really only one rule for conduct during study group meetings and we believe that this one rule will be sufficient and beneficial for all participants. This rule comes from decades of tradition in recovery meetings across the globe. It has proven to be wildly successful amongst addicts (a population not well known for their ability to act harmoniously with others); how much more so will it then be beneficial for this group?
The rule is this:
No cross-talk
That's it.
How does this look in practice?
It means that each member of the study group does not give advice, does not give opinions, and does not speak on what others have shared about their experience reading through the selected texts in any fashion whatsoever.
At first glance this may seem isolating but in fact it is just the opposite.
It means that each member will be given the opportunity to speak freely and honestly about their own experiences with the Suttas without social fear.
It means that each member will be spared the nail grating experience of listening to religious argumentation, proselytizing, and grandstanding.
It means that each member can partake in the edifying experience of hearing honest perspectives unique to their own.
It means that meetings won't drag on until the point of boredom or frustration.
It means placing principles above personalities.
Suggested reflections for sharing
The suggestions below are by no means hard rules (our one and only rule was stated above). Rather, these are just things we are curious about and would like to hear. We are so curious about your answers to these questions that we started a study group and deployed a website.
- Which part of the selected reading did you disagree with or simply rubbed you the wrong way? Why?
- Which part of the selected reading confused you or did not seem to make any sense?
- Which part of the selected reading did you agree with and found resonated with you? Why?
Beyond these suggestions we would love to hear anything you have to say so long as it is honest and sincere.