Buddhist mnemonics in dharani

General Memory Chat
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Brief segment of the larger book. (Sorry for the ugly link, couldn’t view or copy the original link without being taken to the download).

Here we have a discussion of the mnemonic nature of a subset of Buddhist mantras (modern unhistoric definition). It revolves around lists and repetition.

I’ve only memorized the heart sutra thus far, and the numbered abbreviations were stickier, and the groups of opposites seemed more memorable, than single lines half their length.

It seems that this list making method would be a great method for the pretreatment of information to be stored using the method of loci, and also synergistic with learning methods in general. Perhaps it’s memorability is part of what made Buddhism a popular success in the world

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@metivier you talked about memory palace techniques where key doctrines were stored around a temple, did you have any cool books or sources on that to recommend?

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Hi,

Is there a book about Buddhist memory techniques in Early Buddhism?

All I’ve found are paper from Professors.

Thanks,
Stefos

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I’d be interested in this too. If we have to stick to smaller sections of books on more general topics I’d be satisfied.

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Right

I’ve been looking here and there for information and it is amazingly sparse.

In Sri Lanka and in India, you had the Bhanakas who were monks who specialized in memorizing the Suttas/Sutras…very difficult to find anything on them.

Stefos

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