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Memorising the Dhammapada Chapter 1

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Learning Scripture By Heart

I like to memorise things for rapid, effortless recall, and to further understanding. Having something in memory is like having it stored in a cache: it takes little effort to recall. Having something in memory means you don't need to search and refer to notes to find something. It is expensive in terms of time and effort, so you should choose wisely what you practise and memories. But memorisation is an important tool.

I am a Christian, though I have taken Buddhism seriously in the past. Some of its scriptures have stuck with me. In following the commandment to Love Your Neighbour As Yourself, I find that many Buddhist teachings give good advice that leads to one doing just this. Hence my choice to memorise the following Chapter of the Dhammapada. I generally train these verses by repetition while working out on my exercise bike: the exercise makes the rote repetition less boring, and the repetition makes the exercise bike less boring, which is a win-win. I have a Python script which uses Qt (in particular PySide6) to print lines of a text file, one at a time.

Example: Dhammapada Chapter 1

To remember it all, I reduce it to the following bullet points:

The idea is that give a single bullet point in this list, I can reproduce the text from memory. Then I memorise this short list so that given only 'Dhammapada 1', I can reproduce this list of bullet points and, from there reproduce the entire chapter.

And then these bullet points expand as follows:

Our Mind

  1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

  2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.

Angry with me.

  1. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,"--in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease.

  2. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,"--in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will cease.

Hatred

  1. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.

  2. The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;--but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.

Mara Temptation

  1. He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, Mara (the tempter) will certainly overthrow him, as the wind throws down a weak tree.

  2. He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well controlled, moderate in his food, faithful and strong, him Mara will certainly not overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.

Saffron Robe

  1. He who wishes to put on the yellow dress without having cleansed himself from sin, who disregards temperance and truth, is unworthy of the yellow dress.

  2. But he who has cleansed himself from sin, is well grounded in all virtues, and regards also temperance and truth, he is indeed worthy of the yellow dress.

Deluded and Wise

  1. They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, never arrive at truth, but follow vain desires.

  2. They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth, and follow true desires.

Thatched Hut

  1. As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through an unreflecting mind.

  2. As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.

Selfish1

  1. The evil-doer mourns in this world, and he mourns in the next; he mourns in both. He mourns and suffers when he sees the evil of his own work.

  2. The virtuous man delights in this world, and he delights in the next; he delights in both. He delights and rejoices, when he sees the purity of his own work.

Selfish2

  1. The evil-doer suffers in this world, and he suffers in the next; he suffers in both. He suffers when he thinks of the evil he has done; he suffers more when going on the evil path.

  2. The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is happy in the next; he is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of the good he has done; he is still more happy when going on the good path.

Scriptures

  1. The thoughtless man, even if he can recite a large portion (of the law), but is not a doer of it, has no share in the priesthood, but is like a cowherd counting the cows of others.

  2. The follower of the law, even if he can recite only a small portion (of the law), but, having forsaken passion and hatred and foolishness, possesses true knowledge and serenity of mind, he, caring for nothing in this world or that to come, has indeed a share in the priesthood.

I prefer Eknath Easwaran's translation, as it is easier to read, so have memorised that. That said, Easwaran's translation is far from accurate. If you want an understanding of the meaning of these verses, see e.g. this translation with commentary. But this translation (via the Gutenberg Project) is public domain, so I use it here.