The Art of Memory and the Dharma

[Shoshin]

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The Art of Memory is a set of strategies and techniques that come from ancient times. Some well known strategies are the Memory Palace or the use of physical aids like beads. It's useful for everyone and specially so for people that, like me, have a their memory impaired.
I make infographics with Dharma basics and now
I made this "mala" to help me memorize the Sixteen Precepts. It helps to anchor them in my memory in a way that my brain wouldn't be able by itself.

First green bead is The Buddha...

Does anyone have similar "tricks"? Share them please

Gassho
Satlah

[Jundo]

That is lovely.

I taught a student class in "mnemonics" (memory tricks) in college, and it helped get me through law school and learn to read Japanese. I once won a bet by memorizing every name, phone number and address on a page of the "white pages" phone book (now, nobody can even remember what is a "phone book!" )

Yes, Buddhism has had mnemonics since the beginning, when they were used for the oral memorization and recitation of the Suttas for centuries before they were written down.

The tricks have been used to help people memorize the Heart Sutra in Japanese. Below is a somewhat irreverent way to learn the Heart Sutra/Hannya Shingyo that is highly effective, but also very old and traditional in earthy Japan. It is from the late Edo period, showing quite a bit of humor. Many of the items are head scratchers for modern people, but I see some funny ones. "Chi" is a word for a breast or utter in Japanese, so you will see a picture of two breasts (third column from left), and in the same column, three spaces down, a picture of a dog peeing, which is thought to make a "Sa" sound in Japanese. They stand for those sounds in the Sutra. Yes, the sacred is truly mundane, the ordinary just sacred.
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If you wish to study this topic more, a scholar's paper:

https://www2.ngu.ac.jp/uri/gengo/pdf/genbun_vol2601_08.pdf

Gassho, J
stlah

[Chikyou]

I am really interested to know how you use the mala! I made one recently, but don’t really use it. I do struggle a bit with memorization.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Jundo]

I am really interested to know how you use the mala! I made one recently, but don’t really use it. I do struggle a bit with memorization.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

If you would like to know about Mala (beads) in Soto Zen, we are not really as big on them as some other sects (e.g., the Pure Land and Nichiren folks) who are big chanters. We are sitters more than chanters. However, they have some "personal reminder" and other roles in Soto Zen.

We have had a few threads in the past on this, so allow me to repost a few bit and pieces from those threads ... Much MUCH MUCH more info than probably anyone wants or needs on Juzu [Mala] beads ...


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For much much MUCH more information that you ever will need on the specific styles and use of Juzu for the Soto and other schools, at least in Japan ...

... this fellow seems to have done his research on the many styles of Juzu for various sects (follow the link) ...

http://www.aetw.org/jsp_nenju_juzu.htm

In Japanese Soto, we are not too much into Mala beads ("Juzu" in Japanese) as a central part of practice, although that depends on how much there has been an influence of "esoteric" or "Pure Land" or other traditions of Buddhism on the particular lineage of Soto Zen over the centuries. They do play a role in some esoteric ceremonies.

Some folks use the Mala for counting repetitions in certain chants, much as they are used in Catholic prayer. Doing so is not a central practice of Soto Zen, unless the particular priest or practitioner has incorporated other traditions ... like the Jodo (Pure Land) practice of chanting to Amida Buddha (the Chinese Chan priests you might see from time to time often wear very large Mala ...
.

... as Chan has heavily mixed with Pure Land in China and Vietnam), or certain esoteric Buddhist rituals that folks picked up along the way. I once noticed, for example, that Ven. Anzan Hoshin in Canada sometimes uses Mala, but he seem to mix various Tibetan Practices in with his Zen.

As Buddhism moved from country to country, and culture to culture, bits of Hindu and Tantric elements were mixed into the teachings. The Juzu is one such item. Traditionally, it is an aid in chanting, serving as a counter (so you can keep your place), although a whole mess of mystical 'meanings' and powers came to be associated with the Mala beads themselves and the usual number of beads: 108 (or a divisor thereof).

Number of beads:
The formal nenju has 108 koshu 'children'/main beads, plus either one or two larger boshu 'parent' beads.

[The 108 koshu represent the 108 bonnou (earthly desires, worldly & or evil passions) which the follower of the Dharma seeks to overcome.]

There are also 'informal' nenju. These are commonly 1/4-size, having 27 koshu and one boshu parent-bead. However there are also informal nenju with 18 koshu (1/6th-size), 36 koshu (1/3rd) 54 koshu (1/2)

For just some of the many meanings of '108'. have a gander at this. It is wonderful:

http://www.salagram.net/108meaning.html

It is an item that traveled up and down the Silk Road, and is brother to the Catholic rosary (in my understanding).

One reason the beads are much loved is that there are more nerve endings on tips of the fingers than in any part of the body (if I recall), and thus the twirling of the beads is, well, sensual and most soothing. .Combined with the hypnotic rhythms of the chant, and you have an experience that one could lose oneself in ... literally.

Oh, and at various times in ages past, it has been seen as kind of a magic charm against evil spirits.

If you are in Japan today, you would see Juzu worn by many Soto priests, and used in ceremonies. Basically, over the centuries, many Tantric (esoteric) elements crept into the Zen schools too ... especially after the time of Dogen. However, some rather recent scholarship has shown that Dogen, while focused on Zazen, was not an opponent of some ritual and ceremony by any means ... he was, after all, just a Buddhist priest following many traditions ...

Although Dogen clearly extolled zazen (both the seated posture and the samadhi it promotes) as the sine qua non of Buddhism, it would be mistaken to conclude from this that he rejected all other forms of Buddhist practice. The specific rituals that seem to be disavowed in the Bendowa passage are all prescribed for Zen monks, often in great detail, in Dogen's other writings. In Kuyo shobutsu, Dogen recommends the practice of offering incense and making worshipful prostrations before Buddha images and stupas, as prescribed in the sutras and Vinaya texts. In Raihai tokuzui he urges trainees to reverence enlightened teachers and to make offerings and prostrations to them, describing this as a practice which helps pave the way to one's own awakening. In Chiji shingi he stipulates that the vegetable garden manager in a monastery should participate together with the main body of monks in sutra chanting services (fugin), recitation services (nenju) in which buddhas' names are chanted (a form of nenbutsu practice), and other major ceremonies, and that he should burn incense and make prostrations (shoko raihai) and recite the buddhas' names in prayer morning and evening when at work in the garden. The practice of repentences (sange) is encouraged in Dogen's Kesa kudoku, in his Sanji go, and his Keisei sanshiki . Finally, in Kankin, Dogen gives detailed directions for sutra reading services (kankin) in which, as he explains, texts could be read either silently or aloud as a means of producing merit to be dedicated to any number of ends, including the satisfaction of wishes made by lay donors, or prayers on behalf of the emperor.

History of the Soto Zen School
by T. Griffith Foulk

http://www.terebess.hu/english/zenschool.html

(Although, if I may say, the beads probably remain less the focus of attention in Japanese Soto than in any of the other Japanese schools such as Jodo, Nichiren, Tendai and Shingon ... not sure about Rinzai practice. Soto priests may wear them but, as far as I know, they are not used very much for particular purpose outside of such ceremonies. Some Soto priests may develop a special feeling for the Juzu, but that is there own personal feeling and philosophy. Most lay followers in all traditions and all countries would have beads and wear them for funerals and such, but most would just do so as a custom without any particular idea why or what they stand for.

So, why do I wear beads sometimes? Good question!

Well, why do I wear a Grateful Dead t-shirt sometimes?

In all seriousness, it may be more a symbol for being a Buddhist in my mind than anything else, much as a Star of David for Judaism or a Cross on a chain for Christians. I do not consider them much more than that in my mind. ... more a symbol of our tradition than anything. Others may have other views.

Gassho, Jundo

PS --- and if that is not enough here are a few other interesting Mala Facts from various schools and from a Mala manufacturer ... make sure you have it on the right hand, or is it the left?

{Explanation from a Pure Land temple in California] The Nenjie is always held in the left hand since the left hand represents the world of Samsara with its 108 Bonno. The right hand represents the world of Nirvana. It is through the use of the Nenju that the two utterly different worlds of Samsara and Nirvana are seen in their essential Oneness - that is to say, the bringing together of the left hand of Samsara and the right hand of Nirvana into the Oneness of the Gassho. From a Jodoshinshu point of view, one can say that the left hand of Samsara, of the 108 passions of egotism is the world of Namo, of "I, myself; me." The right hand of Nirvana is the world of Amidabutsu, the real world of Amida Buddha. The Nenju brings together these two seemingly opposite worlds into the Oneness of Namoamidabutsu; not Namo, or Amidabutsu separately, but Namoamidabutsu.

In the Nishi Hongwanji tradition of Jodoshinshu, the Nenju encircles the hands in Gassho with the tassel or strings hanging below the two palms and the two thumbs resting lightly on the beads. There are a number of ways of holding the Nenju depending upon the sect, school, or tradition of Buddhism. The Jodo Sect of Honen Shonin for example, places the Nenju around the thumbs of the hands in Gassho. The Higashi Honganji tradition of Jodoshinshu places the Nenju around the hands in Gassho with the string or tassel end held between the thumbs and base of the index fingers. Priests of the Shingon Sect (Koyasan) use several gestures depending upon the ceremony, one of them being to drape the Nenju around the index finger of the left hand and the

middle finger of the right hand at the Oyadama and enclosing the strand of beads between the two palms. The beads are then rubbed together producing a raffling sound. When not in use, the Nenju is held in the left hand or placed around the left wrist.
https://web.archive.org/web/20131219023206/https://www.senshintemple.org/prajna/10_03.html

From a big Juzu manufacturer in Japan ... and perhaps the mirror image of what was said above ...

A rosary is rightly worn on your left wrist when you are sitting and is rightly held in your left hand when walking; the left hand represents the pure world of the Buddha, the right hand the religious world we walk in.
https://web.archive.org/web/20100714064738/http://www.echizenya.co.jp/english/juzu1.htm

also ...

The mala is traditionally worn by Buddhist monks, nuns and lay practitioners around the left wrist. It can be worn also around the neck, but take care not to make prayers while it is worn this way. The reason for this, as told to us by a Tibetan monk, is that the purpose, or intention of jewelry is as an adornment. A mala’s purpose is for making blessings. To use your mala, it’s recommended to always hold it in your left hand. This may be tradition, but there are probably Tantric reasons for it that are related to energy – channels and chakras.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200920074638/http://www.the12stepbuddhist.com/what-is-a-mala-how-to-use-tibetan-prayer-beads/

Hindu tradition holds that the correct way to use a mala is with the right hand, with the thumb flicking one bead to the next, and with the mala draped over the middle finger. The index finger was considered rude, and so was also considered bad to use it with a mala. Buddhism, however, explained that there was no sense in this, and so taught that it was perfectly acceptable to use the mala in the left hand with any fingers. In Tibetan Buddhism (tantra), depending on the practice, there may be preferred ways of holding the mala (left or right hand, rolling the beads over the index or any of the other fingers etc..
https://web.archive.org/web/20130813103818/http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Japa_mala/id/505274