Memory(Buddhism)

Memory is an ability to store, retain, and recall what has been memorized so far:

All kinds of thoughts, speech, and activities in the history of human beings could not have been carried out properly without having the neural system of the hippocampus, a major component of the brain which has developed much more successfully than that of any other mammals on the earth, where information and experiences in human life should be stored in a proper process of encoding (registering some received information), storage (creating a permanent or temporal record of the received information), and retrieval (recalling the stored information whenever needed, in response to some cue for use).

As far as the history of Buddhism is concerned, it is desirable for a Buddhist to develop one’s memory power in order to recall any time what is taught in the sūtras and put it into practice in the midst of one’s daily life. Oblivion should be avoided no matter how much it may cost, for the sake of living a good Buddhist life and transmitting the heritage of Buddhism from one to other generations in the future.

1. 1.
   As far as the Buddha Śākyamuṇi’s physical features are concerned, all of his disciples did not try to memorize them properly because he taught as follows when Ānanda, who had been always at his side, grieved bitterly at the fact that the Buddha, his great master, was about to start his journey to the realm of death (the perfect goal of nirvāṇa; parinirvāṇa) : “Be ye islands unto yourselves. Take the self as your refuge. Take yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to the dharma as an island” (Dīgha-nikāya 16). The Buddha should deserve to be respected by other people only because his dharma is honorable. Therefore, it is natural that nobody tried to engrave or paint any image of the Buddha in his life time and even after his death, until the first Buddha image was created for some reasons around the first or second century, A.D. The physical features of the Buddha image are full of imaginative elements based on a legendary theory to tell about how great persons visually looked like, in spite of the fact that the historical Buddha himself was nothing but a monk tonsured just as his own disciple. That is, the emergence of Buddha image in the history of Indian Buddhism was the beginning of creating the memory of the Buddha which came to be yearned for by those who were eager to see him in person. It is quite interesting that Buddhist people in later periods believed without any doubt that the Buddha image, far from the ordinary figure of human beings, was a true and real memory of the Buddha himself. This may be one of the best example of showing “Memoryand Oblivion.”
    
2. 2.
   Then, how the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuṇi, which should be regarded as the essence of the dharma, were memorized and edited by his disciples after he had passed away?

   For the first time, under the leadership of Mahākāśyapa, they came together at a cave situated just outside the walled city of Rājagṛha, the capital of Magadha, and mutually recited all of the Buddha’s sermons and precepts (vinaya) memorized by Ānanda (in charge of sermons) and Upāli (in charge of precepts) in order to reconfirm and establish the true form of Buddha Dharma.

   From ancient times in India, they never try to transcribe the sacred words of a great religious leader for the purpose of engraving them deeply in their own minds. Modern people may think much of the written scriptures, but ancient and even modern Indians tend to regard oral tradition as much more important than a written language which is not yet a part of one’s nature as long as he cannot recall and recite it from memory at any time. Reciting valuable teachings by heart should be the best attitude of a truly active follower of a religious leader who is living an altruistic life.

   Therefore, Mahākāśyapa positively held the convention of “saṃgīti” meaning “to sing together.” Just as the word “Saṃgīta” (song) is one of the most popular names of Indian females, it is not very special for Indian people to memorize sacred sūtras of their own sects. By singing the verses of the sūtras, they can find it easy to memorize and recall them. The famous phrase “evaṃ mayā śrutam” (Thus I heard from the Buddha; Thus said the Buddha) is the beginning of so many Buddhist scriptures, for the purpose of authorizing their contents; “This is not a pseudo, but a real theory of the Buddha himself.” Written form of Buddhist scriptures (sūtras) appeared for the first time in the history of Buddhism around the first century B.C. at a Saṃgha in Śrī Lanka. Monks used “pattra,” a sort of long-shaped leaf, for inscribing the sūtra, hoping that it will remain forever even among the war and other disasters to destroy their community anytime. However, they never cease polishing up their memory power in order to transmit orally the Buddha Dharma from one generation to another.
    
3. 3.
   For example, dhāraṇī originally means the power of storing everything that is learnt from the Buddha Dharma. By memorizing one item of the teachings, it is getting easier to recall many other items, because one reminds him of the others through the act of association in his mind. Dhāraṇī is such an art of mnemonics to help a Buddhist not to do evil but to do good in accordance with the Buddha Dharma. “Mantra” is often called “dhāraṇī,” but “mantra” tends to be shorter than “dhāraṇī.” “Mantra” has a specific meaning to suggest the verbal power to realize what is uttered, without fail. On the other hand, “dhāraṇī” points to the memory power itself.
    
4. 4.
   The word “smṛti” also can be translated as “memory”: “not to forget what one has ever experienced in the past days.” In Buddhist context, good experiences (e.g., to realize how life is transient and how potential at the same time, only if one try to live a positive life within the time limited) should be the best object of meditation. In this case, the act of concentrating one’s mind upon the object is nothing but a smṛti. Moreover, the act of chanting the Buddha’s name, visualizing the Buddha image, and contemplating the virtues of the Buddha is called “Buddhanusmṛti” especially regarded as the most important in the Pure Land Buddhism.
    
5. 5.
   Memorizing one’s past faults and sins must be essential for a human being who can recall them as clearly as possible, feel shame at what were done in the past, confess all of them, and seek after forgiveness. Without having the memory power he will not be able to take the responsibility of atoning his past faults and sins in the best way and should fail to relieve his mind from a guilty conscience. Oblivion may release a man from a sense of guilt, but he does not deserve to take part in the social life again, but has to be punished in a proper way. Even in the lifetime of the Buddha Śākyamuṇi who taught how to avoid doing wrong and evil, his disciples were not perfect to observe the rules of the Saṃgha (the community of monks or nuns). By the kind advice from King Biṃbisāra of Magadha who told the Buddha that it was very much helpful to adopt non-Buddhist rituals of uposadha for improving the moral life of Buddhists, the Buddhist own uposadha (the function of coming together twice a month, on the days of a new moon and a full moon, reconfirming the rules of the Saṃgha, confessing one’s sin, and forgiving one another) had started in due course.

   From the viewpoint of a sinner, not only “kṣama” (craving for others’ forgiveness with patience) but also “āpatti-pratideśana” (confessing and purifying one’s sin) should be necessary for taking a new step of his life for the right direction of Buddhist goal (bodhi; the perfect Awakenings). Those who may still recall his sins are also desirable to tolerate what he did in the past. Memories both of a sinner and a person who was troubled with the sinner’s deeds may finally reconcile to each other: Such a situation as this can be seen from ancient to modern generations. This is one of good examples of the memory power useful for preserving morality of the human life.
    
6. 6.
   Ontologically speaking, it is well known that Buddhist philosophy always positively denies the substantial entity named “the eternal soul” which most of the non-Buddhist people need to believe as the essence of human existence. One of the reasons should come from Buddhist thoughts that a human being (and even any other kind of living beings) is organically composed of the physical, verbal, and mental karma changing every moment according to the present conditions of his own mind and the environment all around him. It is neither substantial nor unchanging. But such a karmic way of living a life is believed to preserve the effective power to be taken over beyond this life and should cause the natures of the next life, following the law of causation, without being intervened by God or any other kind of supernatural beings. Such a theory as this has several versions among the schools of Nikāya Buddhism just as Sarvāstivādins, Sautrantikas, etc., whose thinking of karma probably through the practice of meditation later evolved into the thoughts of the Mahāyāna Mādhyamika and Yogacāra schools that good, bad, and morally neutral karma, just as the seeds (bījā) deeply kept in one’s mind, should sprout as a result when the time is ripe according to some conditions.

   The issues of karma stated above may be a sort of “karmic memory” kept through the past, the present, and the future life of one’s own, no matter whether he may not memorize his past days very well owing to some problems of the hippocampus, one of the most essential system of storing memory only through the medium of cellular tissues of neuron. The karmic memory in Buddhist philosophy, on the other hand, will never be lost as long as all of the effects of his karma should not be dissolved by attaining the stage of nirvāṇa or mokṣa: the state of mind successful in eliminating every cause of one’s sufferings (kleśa) or so-called three poisons of lust (rāga), hatred (dveṣa), and delusion (moha). Thus, medical science and religious philosophy are on different levels.
    
7. 7.
   Regarding the issues of (5), “abhijñāna” (special abilities or wisdom to be obtained by the experiences of deep meditation reaching the state of eliminating every kleśa arisen so far) deserves referring here. One of the six kinds of abhijñāna is known as the abilities of knowing everything about one’s own and others’ own previous lives. Ordinary people cannot remember anything about their karmic existences of the past, but “ārhat” (those who have obtained the abhijñāna for altruistic purposes) is believed to see everything when meeting everyone. It is a sort of beneficial memory power as the result of accumulating good deeds of previous lives, not the supernatural abilities whose origin is quite unknown and mysterious.