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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 7:50 pm
by Cittasanto
I came accross these on Access to insight, awhile ago, and can not remember exactly where they are from or what page (maybe befriending the suttas??)

"Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will lend ear when discourses which are the words of the Authentic One;
profound in their meaning, transcendent, and connected with emptiness are being recited. We will lend ear, will set
our mind on understanding them, and
shall regard these words as those things worthwhile grasping & mastering
.'
That's how you should train yourselves."

Endowed with six qualities, a person is capable of aligning with lawfulness, upright of skilful mental qualities even
while listening to the true Dhamma. Which six?
"When the Truth & Deportment declared by the Authentic One is being taught, they listen well,
gives ear, apply their mind to understanding, reject the worthless, grasps the worthwhile, and is capable of being
patience to conform with the teaching.

not exactly on memorization, apart from the grasping aspect, but hopefully useful!

I am almost finished rememorizing the Dhammachakkapavatana sutta (only the devas to go through :) ) and did look at the Karaniya metta sutta in english, and I still remember it well!

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:40 am
by dhammapal
Hello Bhante,
BKh wrote:There is a good article here on memorizing verbatim text:
http://www.productivity501.com/how-to-m ... -text/294/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I find the method suggested there very helpful. Basically, you convert your text into a string of just the first letters and use it as a recall crutch. So the text I am working on now...
§27. "Bhikkhus, for a faithful disciple who is intent on fathoming the Teacher’s Dispensation, it is natural that he conduct himself thus: ‘The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple; the Blessed One knows, I do not know.’ For a faithful disciple who is intent on fathoming the Teacher’s Dispensation, the Teacher’s Dispensation is nourishing and refreshing."
Would become...
"B, f a f d w i i o f t T’s D, i i n t h c h t: ‘T B O i t T, I a a d; t B O k, I d n k.’ F a f d w i i o f t T’s D, t T’s D i n a r."
The idea is then that you are able to stretch your memory by filling in the rest of the words when you are at the middle stage of the process: sort of know it but not really completely.

There is a tool on that page that will create this version. On this page: http://www.downes.ca/memorization.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is just the tool. If you want you can do a "save as" for that page and keep it on your computer.
I'm using An Approach to Extended Memorization of The Tipitaka Adopted from Dr Andrew M. Davis,
to memorize Snp4.14 Tuvataka Sutta (10 lines so far (out of 41) with one new line each day):
Snp 4.14 transl. Thanissaro wrote:"I ask the kinsman of the Sun, the great seer, about seclusion & the state of peace.
Seeing in what way is a monk unbound, clinging to nothing in the world?"
"He should put an entire stop to the root of objectification-classifications: 'I am the thinker.'[1]
He should train, always mindful, to subdue any craving inside him.
Whatever truth he may know, within or without, he shouldn't get entrenched in connection with it,
for that isn't called Unbinding by the good.
He shouldn't, because of it, think himself better, lower, or equal.
Touched by contact in various ways, he shouldn't keep conjuring self.
Stilled right within, a monk shouldn't seek peace from another from anything else.
For one stilled right within, there's nothing embraced, so how rejected?"
Tuvataka Sutta (Sutta Nipata 4.14)
With metta / dhammapal.

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:38 am
by Sekha
There has been some work done in order to help people memorizing in Pali (or English with Pali words) the instructions that the Buddha repeated the most in the suttas. Each Pali word has a bubble with its definition in it. The list is far from being exhaustive, but it is getting completed slowly:

http://www.buddha-vacana.org/formulae.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is also this page for the Dhammacak':
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/samy ... 6-011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This sutta is interesting to memorize because it has a definition of each factor of the 8-fold path:
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/samy ... 5-008.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This one has an exposition of paticca samuppada with a definition of each term:
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/samy ... 2-002.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This one is very easy and very useful to memorize for anyone wishing to have a successful meditation practice:
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/angu ... 6-118.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

:anjali:

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:25 pm
by James the Giant
Best wishes in your endeavour!
I seem to remember that sutta is a nice one to chant, there are some good repeated passages that form a nice rhythm.
During the rains retreat at Bodhinyanarama we chanted it most evenings for a few months, and by the end I could do it without reading from the book. Interestingly I could chant it with others, but not by myself. By myself I always got lost.
May your memory be well exercised :anjali:

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:32 pm
by Ben
Well done KB on your aspiration. I have also thought about memorizing the Dhamma Cakka Pavatana, but because of work and family responsibilities, I was convinced I didn;t have the time. You might want to check out the sutta memorization challenge thread, and please feel free to either merge this thread with it or begin diarising in that thread. I will be very interested to know how you progress.
with metta and best wishes.

Ben

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:29 pm
by gavesako
It is much easier to memorize a discourse like this while chanting together (sam+gayana) in a group. There is a rhythm to the chant and when you need to stop to take a breath, others continue chanting. Group recitation has been the way the Sangha has preserved the Suttas for centuries.

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:10 pm
by Khalil Bodhi
Ben wrote:Well done KB on your aspiration. I have also thought about memorizing the Dhamma Cakka Pavatana, but because of work and family responsibilities, I was convinced I didn;t have the time. You might want to check out the sutta memorization challenge thread, and please feel free to either merge this thread with it or begin diarising in that thread. I will be very interested to know how you progress.
with metta and best wishes.

Ben
I'll merge it Ben, thanks for the heads up. I'll keep you posted! Mettaya!

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:29 pm
by Khalil Bodhi
gavesako wrote:It is much easier to memorize a discourse like this while chanting together (sam+gayana) in a group. There is a rhythm to the chant and when you need to stop to take a breath, others continue chanting. Group recitation has been the way the Sangha has preserved the Suttas for centuries.
Bhante,

Yes, I understand this completely. This is why I'm using the recording of Dhamma Ruwan. I wish I had a group with whom to recite but their is only my lay group here. Thank you!

Re: Aditthana – Memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 6:31 pm
by Cittasanto
Khalil Bodhi wrote:
gavesako wrote:It is much easier to memorize a discourse like this while chanting together (sam+gayana) in a group. There is a rhythm to the chant and when you need to stop to take a breath, others continue chanting. Group recitation has been the way the Sangha has preserved the Suttas for centuries.
Bhante,

Yes, I understand this completely. This is why I'm using the recording of Dhamma Ruwan. I wish I had a group with whom to recite but their is only my lay group here. Thank you!
Hi Khalil,
where is your OP?
I was going to have a look at the link in it.

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:48 pm
by Khalil Bodhi
Hi Everyone,

Just in case anyone was wondering, my aditthana is still going strong. To help myself I have put together a lst of resources in Pali and English to help me not only memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana sutta but, dare I say, to understand it. I have actually decided to pay to host the files in case whoever is serving them up now goes under later. Please let me know if you have more to add and I will update the page accordingly: http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com/daily- ... ana-sutta/

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:03 pm
by Sekha
Khalil Bodhi wrote:Hi Everyone,

Just in case anyone was wondering, my aditthana is still going strong. To help myself I have put together a lst of resources in Pali and English to help me not only memorize the Dhammacakkappavattana sutta but, dare I say, to understand it. I have actually decided to pay to host the files in case whoever is serving them up now goes under later. Please let me know if you have more to add and I will update the page accordingly: http://khalilbodhi.wordpress.com/daily- ... ana-sutta/
If you want to understand every word of the Pali text, which will ease greatly the memorization process, I would recommend this resource, with an infobubble on every Pali word:
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/samy ... 6-011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 10:28 pm
by Khalil Bodhi
Thank you Sekha! I am working to memorize the Pali first and translating chunks of important sections for now. I definitely intend to do a line by line translation as I progress.

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:48 am
by theY
Hi dears,

I use to memorize pāli and translate it word to word. I try to memorize by the fixed time. I don't care how much I had remember, but I care "Have I tried to memorize at all my fixed time?".

Memorization in everything-- pali, meaning, face, leg, satta, sabhāva, good, even though in bad thing, is the nearest cause of sati.

We should change the behavior of saññā. Don't stop it, because that acting is useless. We can't stop saññā.

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 3:51 am
by Javi
For memorizing things, I'm a huge fan of using the 'method of loci', also known as the memory palace technique. It's an ancient technique that was used by the Greeks and Romans to memorize speeches. They are still used to today, especially by people who participate in modern "memory championships". The feats of memory these mental athletes can achieve by using simple techniques is amazing, and this is one of the main ways they do it. I highly recommend checking this out, it really works wonders.

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 3:30 pm
by Coyote
I didn't actually get as far as I hoped in memorizing the karaniya metta sutta. But I am now looking at beginning again, maybe with something different this time.
So aside from the basic homages and refuges, what are some of the first chants that someone brought up as a buddhist might know or learn? Any ideas?