In Buddhism it seems that I am encountering a lot of things that are categorized like for example : Ten realms of being, Seven factors of Enlightenment, Twelve Nirdanas, Five Paramitas, The Six Faults in Sitting Down, 108 defilements, Five Grave Sins, Eighteen root downfalls, Ten Five and even more precepts, Six Realms, Four different kinds of Buddhists, Four Bodhisattva Vows,...etc.
Do I need to memorize all of these things it seems that the number of categories is overwhelming.
Do I need to know these things to have a proper grasp of Mahayana Buddhism ?
I hope you can understand what I am trying to ask
If I do need to know all of these categories can I get a list so that it's easier to learn them ?
Another example are categories spoken of in the Brahma Net Sutra: Ten Dedications, Ten Dwellings, Ten Practices, Ten Dhyana Samadhi,...
All these lists in Buddhism can be confusing
Categories in Buddhism
Categories in Buddhism
Last edited by ananda on Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever." - Nichiren Daishonin
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LastLegend
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Re: Categories in Buddhism
If you join a temple or monastary, you will be learning those. But I don't think it's important. And personally I don't even know anything about those realms, emptiness, or whatever I haven't experienced.ananda wrote:I need to memorize all of these things it seems that the number of categories is overwhelming.
Do I need to know these things to have a proper grasp of Mahayana Buddhism ?
It’s eye blinking.
Re: Categories in Buddhism
Learning them is useful, but not absolutely necessary.ananda wrote:In Buddhism it seems that I am encountering a lot of things that are categorized like for example : Ten realms of being, Seven factors of Enlightenment, Twelve Nirdanas, Five Paramitas, The Six Faults in Sitting Down, 108 defilements, Five Grave Sins, Eighteen root downfalls, Ten Five and even more precepts, Six Realms, Four different kinds of Buddhists, Four Bodhisattva Vows,...etc.
Do I need to memorize all of these things it seems that the number of categories is overwhelming.
Do I need to know these things to have a proper grasp of Mahayana Buddhism ?
I hope you can understand what I am trying to ask
If I do need to know all of these categories can I get a list so that it's easier to learn them ?
Another example are categories spoken of in the Brahma Net Sutra: Ten Dedications, Ten Dwellings, Ten Practices, Ten Dhyana Samadhi,...
All these lists in Buddhism can be confusing
A very serious student of Buddhism will memorize them, just as someone who seriously studies Chemistry will memorize the periodic table of the elements.
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Madeliaette
- Posts: 179
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- Location: Currently in Sussex, England. Formerly in Wollongong, Australia.
Re: Categories in Buddhism
I found in overwhelming when i first began to read Buddhist books. 
I kept finding '6 of these' and '8 of those' all over the place and I did not think I would ever learn anything about all the lists if each list contained even more lists - not if it was all numbers.
A few years later on, I find that just by having constantly read this or that Buddhist book, various number-lists seems to have made it to my memory and stuck there. I suppose that the more one hears of a list, the more likely it is to be recalled. So, I have not tried to learn any of the numerical lists - yet several have stashed themselves into my head anyway from the multitude of books i have read, talks i have heard, etc.
I guess the 4 Noble truths is the main one - that might be the best one to really learn!!
I kept finding '6 of these' and '8 of those' all over the place and I did not think I would ever learn anything about all the lists if each list contained even more lists - not if it was all numbers. A few years later on, I find that just by having constantly read this or that Buddhist book, various number-lists seems to have made it to my memory and stuck there. I suppose that the more one hears of a list, the more likely it is to be recalled. So, I have not tried to learn any of the numerical lists - yet several have stashed themselves into my head anyway from the multitude of books i have read, talks i have heard, etc.
I guess the 4 Noble truths is the main one - that might be the best one to really learn!!
Re: Categories in Buddhism
The lists by numbers are used to sum up the teachings of the Buddha. It is an ancient method that also appears in one of the primary collections of the Buddha's teachings, the Anguttara Nikaya.
A useful picture of the essential teachings:
The Middle Way
A very basic list:
List of Buddhist Lists
Improved list:
Buddhism by Numbers
Huge list:
The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists — Explained (PDF) by David N. Snyder, Ph.D. (founder of this forum)
A useful picture of the essential teachings:
The Middle Way
A very basic list:
List of Buddhist Lists
Improved list:
Buddhism by Numbers
Huge list:
The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists — Explained (PDF) by David N. Snyder, Ph.D. (founder of this forum)
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?
2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.
3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.
4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.
1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?
2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.
3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.
4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.
1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
Re: Categories in Buddhism
Basically what we perceive as the Buddha's 'penchant' for creating lists is actually a very skillful means.
It is both a mnemonic device and a way of ensuring that we get the whole picture with the various possibilities for each section of the dharma that we happen to practice.
In the days of the Buddha no one wrote down what he said, it simply wasn't the way it was done. The mnemonic device of listing was simple and effective.
It is useful to work a bit at a time to memorize whichever lists are relevant to what you are exploring, starting perhaps with the Four Arya (Noble) Truths, the Three Jewels etc. It's just daunting at first because perhaps you haven't started to do that. Make it relevant.
It is both a mnemonic device and a way of ensuring that we get the whole picture with the various possibilities for each section of the dharma that we happen to practice.
In the days of the Buddha no one wrote down what he said, it simply wasn't the way it was done. The mnemonic device of listing was simple and effective.
It is useful to work a bit at a time to memorize whichever lists are relevant to what you are exploring, starting perhaps with the Four Arya (Noble) Truths, the Three Jewels etc. It's just daunting at first because perhaps you haven't started to do that. Make it relevant.