Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

i'm working on memorizing satipatthana right now. this one is very inclusive. are there any others that would be good?

here are my unfinished thoughts:

maha satipatthana: covers about 70% of what i want to memorize.

anapanasati sutta: covers meditation in detail, another 10%?

a sutta that entails metta practice or at least that section of one, another 10%?

a sutta that covers dependant origination (SN 12.65?), recollection of past lives and enlightenment (MN 36 verses 34-44?), and maybe kamma as well, so probably one of the buddha's enlightenmnet suttas. another 10% and that's 100%. sweet.


........something about not-self...(SN 22.59?).

conversely i like the idea of memorizing only one and mastering it fully, if it's only one it must cover a LOT of ground, hence; satipatthana.

i started off reading and then writing the first lines of it over and over. that made it easy to check for accuracy but once you get a few pages in that's way to much writing so now i just do it in my head and check accuracy by recording myself saying it out loud and then compare that to the text.

i've also taken a picture of the text with my phone and made the section i'm working on my background that way it's always at my finger tips and, who knows, maybe it's seeping in unconsciously as well since it's always behind whatever i'm doing making it even easier to remember. on a funny note it's currently on "foulness of the bodily parts" so if anyone looks at my phone background, and doesn't know the sutta or anything, it's "contents of the stomach, feces, bile," and so on so they would be like "wha??? you're weird! why is this your background?"

it's so long that once i've got it down i'm going to recite it in three parts, on the way to work in the morning, on the way home in afternoon, and as i lie down for bed.

if i only do this one sutta i am considering learning it in pali as well, not that i will then magically know pali but it will give me a deeper understanding of the translation and i will learn a little more pali than i currently know at least.

anyone else doing anything like this?

focus on one at a time the satipatthana sutta is a big one so don't rush but get it memorised first.

the worst thing to do is rush through them.

Cittasanto wrote:focus on one at a time the satipatthana sutta is a big one so don't rush but get it memorised first.

the worst thing to do is rush through them.

couldn't agree more. i'm thinking in terms of years. however do you think it's best to only do one for life or multiples?

SN 35.23 suffices ... if it suffices.

alan... wrote:

Cittasanto wrote:focus on one at a time the satipatthana sutta is a big one so don't rush but get it memorised first.

the worst thing to do is rush through them.

couldn't agree more. i'm thinking in terms of years. however do you think it's best to only do one for life or multiples?

I know several of the suttas. it isn't a case of best but what works.
but thinking in terms of years means you can focus on one at a time.

Learn one then think about the next.

ground wrote:SN 35.23 suffices ... if it suffices.

lolz. love it.

Cittasanto wrote:

alan... wrote:

Cittasanto wrote:focus on one at a time the satipatthana sutta is a big one so don't rush but get it memorised first.

the worst thing to do is rush through them.

couldn't agree more. i'm thinking in terms of years. however do you think it's best to only do one for life or multiples?

I know several of the suttas. it isn't a case of best but what works.
but thinking in terms of years means you can focus on one at a time.

Learn one then think about the next.

which ones do you know?

i like maha satipatthana because it has a ton of info on meditation and includes the eightfold path and a description of each step. so if picking one only i imagine this one really has just about all the main points of the dhamma and really you wouldn't need much else. i don't know of another more inclusive sutta. other main points or techniques that are not in it are found in the other suttas i listed wanting to memorize. also because of the vipassana movement the satipatthana is considered a complete stand alone training so from that perspective it's all one would need to memorize if that is ones path. i don't know if i fully agree with that but i'm on the fence.

do you know of a more "outline of the dhamma/a complete practice" type sutta?

alan... wrote: i like maha satipatthana . . .

Now, you'll have to pick a translation.

tiltbillings wrote:

alan... wrote: i like maha satipatthana . . .

Now, you'll have to pick a translation.

Done, bhikkhu bodhi from majjhima with the added eightfold section from maha from nyanaponika as i don't love the walshe translation. And planning to learn it in pali too and definitions of words so translation quality is less crucial. Heck if I ever feel that I really truly know every word and meaning in pali I may just forget the English version all together.

I am suggesting you focus on one at a time not just learn one!
Don't get bogged down with information overload thinking about the next thing

Cittasanto wrote:I am suggesting you focus on one at a time not just learn one!
Don't get bogged down with information overload thinking about the next thing

so you think it's a bad idea to just memorize one? Why? I will still study other suttas but only fully memorize one.

alan... wrote:

Cittasanto wrote:I am suggesting you focus on one at a time not just learn one!
Don't get bogged down with information overload thinking about the next thing

so you think it's a bad idea to just memorize one? Why? I will still study other suttas but only fully memorize one.

No, and I have never suggested that.

a comprehensive sutta is the metta sutta. and also the sutta taught to rahula about having clear comprehension and making ones mind imperturbable like the elements. its the rahula something sutta i forget what its called but it has the name rahula in it.

alan... wrote:i'm working on memorizing satipatthana right now. this one is very inclusive. are there any others that would be good?

here are my unfinished thoughts:

maha satipatthana: covers about 70% of what i want to memorize.

anapanasati sutta: covers meditation in detail, another 10%?

a sutta that entails metta practice or at least that section of one, another 10%?

a sutta that covers dependant origination (SN 12.65?), recollection of past lives and enlightenment (MN 36 verses 34-44?), and maybe kamma as well, so probably one of the buddha's enlightenmnet suttas. another 10% and that's 100%. sweet.


........something about not-self...(SN 22.59?).

conversely i like the idea of memorizing only one and mastering it fully, if it's only one it must cover a LOT of ground, hence; satipatthana.

i started off reading and then writing the first lines of it over and over. that made it easy to check for accuracy but once you get a few pages in that's way to much writing so now i just do it in my head and check accuracy by recording myself saying it out loud and then compare that to the text.

i've also taken a picture of the text with my phone and made the section i'm working on my background that way it's always at my finger tips and, who knows, maybe it's seeping in unconsciously as well since it's always behind whatever i'm doing making it even easier to remember. on a funny note it's currently on "foulness of the bodily parts" so if anyone looks at my phone background, and doesn't know the sutta or anything, it's "contents of the stomach, feces, bile," and so on so they would be like "wha??? you're weird! why is this your background?"

it's so long that once i've got it down i'm going to recite it in three parts, on the way to work in the morning, on the way home in afternoon, and as i lie down for bed.

if i only do this one sutta i am considering learning it in pali as well, not that i will then magically know pali but it will give me a deeper understanding of the translation and i will learn a little more pali than i currently know at least.

anyone else doing anything like this?

I would recommend memorizing the Ananda sutta SN 54.13 instead of the Anapanasati Sutta because it covers the same material with a shorter introduction, but that's just me.

In terms of memorizing technique, there is one method I find useful. I break up the sutta into different sections (each short enough to chant on one breath) and I print them out on a piece of paper. I then chant section 1 and 2 about 4 or 5 times, and then I cover the paper and try to chant it from memory another 4 or 5 times. If I can't do it, I chant it from the paper another 4 or 5 times and then try again.

Then I do the same thing for section 2 and 3, and then 3 and 4, then 4 and 5, etc... until I get to the end of the page. The reason why I make sure my memorizing practice overlaps is because when you do it that way, it is really easy to remember what part comes next. After getting to the end of the page, I try to chant the whole thing from memory. If I can't do the whole thing, then I re-memorize the sections I had problems with. After successfully chanting a page from memory a few times, I take a break and see if I can do it again in an hour, and then review it, and move on to the next page the next day.

Make sure that before you memorize anything new on a day that you spend time reviewing by re-chanting what you already memorized so that you don't forget it, and once you memorize the whole thing to chant it regularly so you don't forget it.

The Girimananda Sutta AN 10.60 is very popular for memorizing among some forest monks because it lists several different types of meditation.

Have you memorized the Metta Sutta and the Mangala Sutta yet? Those are some of my favorite to chant.

befriend wrote:a comprehensive sutta is the metta sutta. and also the sutta taught to rahula about having clear comprehension and making ones mind imperturbable like the elements. its the rahula something sutta i forget what its called but it has the name rahula in it.

thanks much, great suggestions!