Top memorization techique is worth the investment: mentally create movie with distinct memorable visual, audio, smell, etc.

 

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

Post by frank k » Sat May 20, 2023 10:13 am

I now have about 14/16 of Snp 5 memorized, when completed, it's going to be about 30min. of pretty fast chanting.

I recently borrowed a book from the library on memorization skills, authored by someone acclaimed as American world champion.

I'd read or heard about many of the techniques he talks about before, but I had never seriously practiced any of those methods before since I had nothing very challenging to memorize.
Also, the technique is quite challenging in some ways, requiring the mental equivalent, of starting up a moderate physical exercise regime for someone who doesn't like to exercise.

Now that I've undertaken memorizing Snp 5, I have a much deeper appreciation of why those techniques are worth investing the time in.

It's taken me about a year to memorize Snp 5, I probably spend an average of 40min. a day to gradually add more material and maintain what I've memorized from there.
It's a lot more time than I had anticipated.
The reason? It's not that hard to memorize a few new lines everyday, but the problem is how to add new material without corrupting the recently memorized material.
So really a lot of my time was spent trying to repair damaged material that sounded similar in some ways.
The 16 suttas in Snp 5, they're all about jhāna meditators crossing over the flood to realize nirvana, so in a way a bunch of them are very similar.

The first and foremost memorization technique that the memory expert recommended, I wish I had done that right from the beginning.
It's to vividly create a mental movie of all the action involving all 5 senses: visual, audio, smell, etc., being very creative, adding very memorable wild features.
The reason for that, I realized through direct experience, is that it then makes your whole memorization product differentiated clearly from each other.

That detailed differentiation leads to a faster cummulative time memorizing the entire project, since you won't need to repair fuzzy memory.

So for my particular Snp 5 project, had I done this from the very beginning, instead of starting from the last 4 of 16 remaining suttas to memorize, it would have saved me a lot of time doing memory repair work.
In other words, if you construct your sutta movie well, with distinct visual, audio, smell, etc., then all 16 suttas would be very differentiated from each other, memorable.

So that's why that memory expert emphasizes that technique so much.
It takes more upfront energy to learn that skill, but it will save you much time and give you much more robust memorized product in the end, more resilient to memory loss and corruption from the simple brute force ways people usually do.

With the suttas, one big advantage with this technique,  is you don't even have to be all that brilliant or creative. The suttas already are descbribing interesting movies with distinctive visual, audio, odiferous things going on already. 

You just need to add some creative touches to help you with difficult words for you.

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Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge

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Post by frank k » Mon May 22, 2023 7:49 am

Cause_and_Effect wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 1:04 pm...
You know this is most interesting.
I wonder if a 'hidden' benefit of memorizing suttas, which are so rife with imagery and analogy but are seldom memorized now, is that it ingraines some of these visual similes in visual memory both as a memory aid but perhaps deepens comprehension also?

My contribution to this thread would be not necessarily to memorize long sutta passages, I personally memorize some short verses.
However I do like the idea of visualizing and memorizing some of the Buddha's numerous similes in more vivid detail, as often it summarizes the heart of the suttas in a sense that you describe but also as a means of contemplation for insight to sink in.

Adding visual imagery, sounds, smells, creative multimedia flourishes that give the memory distinct features makes that memory more robust and resistant to memory loss.

It's like making multiple copies of a bank safety deposit box key and giving them to your 5 best friends so you have multiple entry points.

So by having a stronger memory, easier to recalled, and then recalling it more, then recalling it and frequently reflecting on the meaning of it with vicāra, vimamsa, dhamma-vicaya, upekkha, gives you the opportunity to deepen comprehension of its meaning.

On the science side of things, when you add visual and audio memory cues, it uses more of your physical brain unit, strengthening and increasing the number of synapses that can access those memories.