Dear John, Nina and friends,

I am not memorising passages yet, maybe in the future. However, as I
work through Pali Primer, I am memorising the vacabulary bit by bit.
I think it will be more efficient if I am able to tell what each word
means rather than looking up each time they occur. I reckon that it
would be equally important for one who reads the Pali Tipitaka to
know the common words (such as the top 1000 words compiled by Andy
Shaw) and the various noun declensions and verb conjugations by heart.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, John Kelly wrote:
> Dear Nina,
> Memorizing is an excellent idea. I do some memorizing
> of some Pali snippets myself - particularly things I
> like to repeat every day before meditating - the
> refuges, the precepts, and the 5 things to be
> reflected on daily.
> My approach to memorizing is similar to yours.
>
> Metta,
> John
> --- nina van gorkom <nilo@...> wrote:
> > Dear John,
> > op 05-04-2003 00:34 schreef John Kelly op
> > palistudent@...:
> >
> > > Thank you - I'm glad you're enjoying them.
> > > You're right. Pali is a lovely language.
> > N: I went over the text now many times, and I admire
> > very much the structure
> > of it, the repeats and the passages which are
> > stressing the action to be
> > taken. It is suitable to try to learn it by heart.
> > Now I understand how
> > people of old (and many people now in Sri Lanka and
> > Birma) could do this and
> > wanted to do this. Excellent reminders.
> > Maybe others can give me tips about memorizing, in
> > case someone else likes
> > to do this, but in the process of it I go about it
> > like this: first the four
> > cases that arise, thus the first phrases of each one
> > of these four sections,
> > then the goals in each of these four sections, then
> > the action taken and
> > this is in the same wording in each of these four
> > cases.
> > Fascinating.
> > With appreciation,
> > Nina.