Text/sutra memorization

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suerafatodd
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Text/sutra memorization

Post by suerafatodd »

Hello all - hope you’re well. Posting because I’m interested in adding text/sutra memorization to my practice and am looking for guidance regarding which texts/sutras may be best to start with. I’d really appreciate any guidance you may have.

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Ayu
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by Ayu »

The Golden Light Sutra. Available via Lama Zopa Rinpoche's site.
https://www.lamayeshe.com/advice/sutra-golden-light

Surely it's a bit too long for memorization, but there are some really essential chapters one could pick out partly .
fckw
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

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Hazel
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by Hazel »

You could work your way through the opening prayers at your Dharma center
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zerwe
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by zerwe »

There are many that come to mind--a few you might consider;

Heart Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Diamond Cutter Sutra.

Also, Lam Rim related materials such as;

Lam Rim Outline, Foundation of All Good Qualities, Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, and Three Principle Aspects of the Path

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suerafatodd
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by suerafatodd »

Hello all!

Thank you so much for all the suggestions! I posted this on another forum as well and received similar recommendations - very much looking forward to this addition to my practice.

Thank you again!
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Inedible
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by Inedible »

I'd suggest the Right View Sutta.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .ntbb.html

Right View is the beginning of the Noble Eightfold Path and leads to the other steps. And Suttas tend to be far more practical than Sutras because you can actually do something with them.
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Hazel
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by Hazel »

Inedible wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 6:15 am I'd suggest the Right View Sutta.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .ntbb.html

Right View is the beginning of the Noble Eightfold Path and leads to the other steps. And Suttas tend to be far more practical than Sutras because you can actually do something with them.
Practicality is why I like the Lam Rim text suggestion. It has that in spades, especially for a Gelugpa.

Practicality when memorizing is great. Connection also helps.

And memorization of any of this stuff you can then offer to your teacher.
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conebeckham
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by conebeckham »

Sutra of the Three Heaps, also known as "Confession to 35 Buddhas," or ThungShak in Tibetan.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Terma
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by Terma »

As someone previously mentioned, it would help to memorize the topical outline for a text, say even Lam Rim. This would be very helpful for meditating on the stages of the path. Traditionally when studying a particular text, students would memorize the topical outline of what was being taught.

I think a great suggestion would be "The Foundation of all Good Qualities." It is fairly short and covers the essence of Lam Rim.

Also, the "Eight Verses for Training the Mind" would be useful as well perhaps.
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Re: Text/sutra memorization

Post by n8pee »

Terma wrote: Wed May 25, 2022 7:36 pm I think a great suggestion would be "The Foundation of all Good Qualities." It is fairly short and covers the essence of Lam Rim.

Also, the "Eight Verses for Training the Mind" would be useful as well perhaps.
Two of my go-to's....
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