Is it possible to memorize the whole tipitaka along with the Visuddhimagga in 10-20 years?
I think I should first learn pali before I memorize pali. However, I can try to memorize the English translations.
There are maybe 11 or so tipitaka sayadaws in Myanmar.
They memorize:
5 books of vinaya
3 Dīgha volumes
All Abhidhamma
Sayadaw Vicittalankhara also memorized several other books and commentaries.
For instance when he was a sāmaṇera he memorized 3 volumes of the AN (which is the whole 11 books) and both volumes of the Dhp Commentary. After he told me he did that, he confessed there might be some parts he might not recall since it was over 25 years ago (I can’t remember most of the dhp gāthas I memorized for school this year).
Of course he memorized the abhidhamatthasangaha and one of the pali grammar books that everyone memorizes.
He also memorized the commentaries and maybe even sub commentaries to a lot of the books required. I have a video of him showing me every book he memorized. I think there were over 40 and not all books were there.
We are talking about a truly gifted person.
This all started from Mingun Sayadaw
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Thank you for replying, Venerable Sir. I think what I’m going to do is I could try memorizing the names of every single sutta and write a summary for each sutta and memorize the summary. I just don’t want there to be any sutta that I am not aware of.
I could also try to memorize the entire sutta with commentary for the suttas that I find really helpful to me.
Anki. Really useful for memorizing things. They automatically schedule the thing we are most likely to forget to come out at the right time, when we can be 90% (can be adjusted) sure that we still remember it. Then the next time the card shows up, it will be longer and longer.
This seems so little. So not full tipitaka actually.
Yes, I’m very familiar with anki and remnote. I have a few public pali decks there too. TPR has a whole flashcard export built in for dictionary history. I’m a lifetime member of remnote.
Remnote is easier to take notes and manage but does not easily support html. Becaues we can just dump the whole html from our dictionary panel, TPR exports look much nicer in Anki. Remnote cards took a little longer to figure out.
For individual gatha, and knowing data and facts it is good. For the initial learning of the patimokkha, I don’t think it is suitable.
As for the digha. It is “a little” in terms of the suttas to be memorized. But it is not a little. There are also “stock” phrases which are repeated in many places. It is still a lot. I think the tipitaka sayadaw chants it quite frequently to keep it fresh. I forget the frequency or how long it takes, but he told me and I “forgot” something as trivial as that. He also memorized the entire AN when he was a mere novice which does not even count towards certification. All that said, he is still failing his written exam. I think he told me that nobody is passing the written exams from those who already can chant verbally. For the verbal exam, you are allowed 3 mistakes per volume. If you have more than that, you fail.