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What's on your Raft ☸šŸš£? Which sutta passages absolutely critical to core of Buddhism?

Here's my list of indispensable sutta passages to memorize. 
I'm interested to hear yours, and wondering if I missed anything important. 

The Raft ☸šŸš£

šŸ’©šŸŒŠ → šŸ️

taking you from the ocean of samsaric dukkha → to the island of Nirvana

Having carefully studied and practiced the teachings of the Buddha, you've become convinced of the efficacy of the Dhamma, the truth of kamma, and a strong conviction in rebirth. Who knows when death will knock on your door? Are you prepared? There's only two rational courses of action for one not yet liberated. Ordain, or become a full time yogi.

In the quest for liberation, you simplify your life to the point where your only possessions consist of one set of clothes, a bowl for eating, a needle and some thread to repair your clothes. No dhamma books, no mp3 players. You're going old school, just like the disciples during the Buddha's time. Whatever dhamma you need to know, you commit it to memory and recite it frequently.

So what's on your raft? Which suttas and sutta excerpts are absolutely essential for Arahantship?


Pāli pronunciation guide: ☸šŸ¦

1. Memorize šŸ“œ, word for word

The absolute essential, non-negotiable suttas that need to be memorized in their entirety, word for word, that forms the core and heart of EBT.

AN 3.16 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 5.5min: 3 qualities lead to destruction of āsavā's. The Buddha gives a schedule of how you should practice throughout the day, proper way to eat and sleep.
AN 4.14 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 5min, 2min: expand on definition of right-effort 4pd
AN 5.29 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 0.5min: walking meditation. One of the only suttas where the Buddha talks about benefits of health exercise, and how it helps samadhi.
AN 6.29 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 6min: six of the most important meditation subjects (no need to memorize word for word beginning where Udayi gives wrong answer).
KN Kp 2 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 0.5min: five, eight, ten precepts
SN 22.59 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 7min: šŸš«šŸƒ an-atta-lakkana
SN 35.28 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 6min: Āditta Sutta
SN 45.8 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 5min: šŸ‘‘8☸
SN 48.9 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 2.5min: 5indšŸ–️️: slight overlap with šŸ‘‘8☸, but here it explains the raw function and likely pre-Buddhist definition of key words like sati and viriya the Buddha inherited, not found in STED šŸ‘‘8☸
SN 54.2 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 2min; 16šŸŒ¬️šŸ˜¤ combined with 7sb☀️
SN 54.3 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 3min; STED 16šŸŒ¬️šŸ˜¤‍. The Buddha's favored and preeminent meditation topic.
SN 56.13 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 2.5min: STED 4šŸ‘‘☸
SN 56.14 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 2.5min: same as SN 56.13 but replace 5uk with 6aya

Total avg. chanting time at fluent speed: 50min

But there are some redundant passages among these suttas, so actually more like 40 minutes.
If you don't read all the repetions that typically get elided, then we're talking 30-35 minutes.

2. Indispensable key šŸ—️ ideas šŸ“œ

The suttas that contain critical ideas to the heart of EBT, with ideas and some phrases that need to be memorized to form a complete core EBT understanding.

AN 4.126 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 3min: memorize the STED 4bv☮️ 4 Brahma vihāras formula and the 11x5 contemplation of dukkha
AN 4.41 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 5min: memorize the S&SšŸ˜šŸ’­ definition here. It's what 3rd and 4th jhana are doing
AN 6.19 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 8min: marana-sati 1: remember at minimum the key idea from this sutta.
AN 6.20 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 7min, marana-sati 2: remember at minimum the key idea from this sutta. Also that pamojja and piti aspect of 7sb from SN 46.3 is clarified here.
AN 7.61 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 12min, seven ways to stop drowsiness
AN 7.67 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š šŸ° study and memorize the key ideas. This is one of the best suttas in the EBT to help you understand exactly how each of the path factors in 8aam, 7sb, 37bp, interact with each other, what duties they share and overlap. Most Buddhist teachers, even those highly experienced and learned, often have muddled views and gross misunderstandings of what sati/"mindfulness" and other path factors actually mean, because they didn't study suttas like these carefully.
AN 8.63 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 8.5min: 4spšŸ˜, 4bv☮️, 4jšŸŒ• all are part of "3 ways of samadhi" (samādhi in 3 ways), and you can do any combination of those in all four postures. Also see AN 3.63 for explicit tie between 4j and walking. AN 8.63 is like an expanded version of SN 47.3 + SN 47.4.
SN 46.2 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š The nutriments for the 7sb☀️: memorize at least the synopsis, but the sutta is actually very easy to memorize in entirety word for word, because of refrain repetition.
SN 46.3 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š 7sb☀️: 37 seconds to recite the synopsis, memorize word for word that part. That is the heart of EBT meditation engine for all 42 of the most popular EBT meditations.
SN 47.4 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š Sālā: (name of village): all 4sp are done simultaneously with jhana samadhi. Also explains the meaning of cryptic 4sp formula
SN 36.11 - šŸ”—šŸ”Š speech ceasing in first jhana, and breath ceasing in 4th jhana, is key piece of information not in STED 4j.


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