Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

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januarysprings
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Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by januarysprings »

As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
Jesse
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Jesse »

januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
You don't merge into awareness, you simply stop clinging to the experiences of thoughts, feelings and perceptions. The innate awareness simply shines when it's no longer being obfuscated by distractions. (Due to clinging to the skandhas) There is nothing being lost, memories or otherwise.
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Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Kim O'Hara »

I've got to admit my memory has deteriorated since I began practising Buddhism but it's not because I've been practising Buddhism - just aging. Twenty or so years will do that your memory and fitness and ... and ... and ... :crying:
But I'm okay for my age and even okay with the decline - and that is partly because I've been practising Buddhism. :smile:

:namaste:
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Mkoll
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Mkoll »

In my experience...

Refraining from sensual pleasures and mindfulness leads to a better memory. The more sensual pleasures I indulge in and the more passionate I become, the worse my memory. Both of these develop over time.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
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Sönam
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Sönam »

If by memory you mean to access the hard disk in the brain ... I do not force this access anymore (for it does not work), but when necessary informations are present.

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
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Knotty Veneer
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Knotty Veneer »

Dammit! What did I come into this thread for again?
This is not the wrong life.
TaTa
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by TaTa »

Nop. It has increased. Speacially dream memory.

Probably stoped smoking weed has something to do also
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Ayu
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Ayu »

januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?
No, my memory was always poor after childhood. It rather improved since I'm buddhist.
What to do?
Taking enough sleep at night is very important for the proper functionality of my brain. Also the diet has to be proper. If there is lac of carbs, the memory gets very poor.
tlee
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by tlee »

There is something nicknamed "deluded concentration" that causes memory issues and generally makes your intellect dull. It is not uncommon for people to spend decades practicing deluded concentration and they are fortunate if someone points it out to them.

In deluded concentration you simply lose awareness of your object and "blank out". It feels fine and has some signs of entering genuine concentration, but it is not useful unless you need a nap.

To correct it your meditation you must make an effort to retain attention on a meditation object like the breath, the feeling of the body, the deity, etc.
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by tlee »

This is a problem recognized by Mahayana teachings as well, but a quick google of "delusion concentration" revealed this supporting writing first.

"The best state of concentration for the sake of developing all-around insight is one that encompasses a whole-body awareness. There were two exceptions to Ajaan Fuang's usual practice of not identifying the state you had attained in your practice, and both involved states of wrong concentration. The first was the state that comes when the breath gets so comfortable that your focus drifts from the breath to the sense of comfort itself, your mindfulness begins to blur, and your sense of the body and your surroundings gets lost in a pleasant haze. When you emerge, you find it hard to identify where exactly you were focused. Ajaan Fuang called this moha-samadhi, or delusion-concentration.

The second state was one I happened to hit one night when my concentration was extremely one-pointed, and so refined that it refused settle on or label even the most fleeting mental objects. I dropped into a state in which I lost all sense of the body, of any internal/external sounds, or of any thoughts or perceptions at all — although there was just enough tiny awareness to let me know, when I emerged, that I hadn't been asleep. I found that I could stay there for many hours, and yet time would pass very quickly. Two hours would seem like two minutes. I could also "program" myself to come out at a particular time.

After hitting this state several nights in a row, I told Ajaan Fuang about it, and his first question was, "Do you like it?" My answer was "No," because I felt a little groggy the first time I came out. "Good," he said. "As long as you don't like it, you're safe. Some people really like it and think it's nibbana or cessation. Actually, it's the state of non-perception (asaññi-bhava). It's not even right concentration, because there's no way you can investigate anything in there to gain any sort of discernment. But it does have other uses." He then told me of the time he had undergone kidney surgery and, not trusting the anesthesiologist, had put himself in that state for the duration of the operation. " - http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... mbers.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Queequeg
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Queequeg »

Very interesting thread!

My approach to meditation is based on Zhiyi's instructions for the most part, although I learned "basic" concepts with instructors from various traditions - most extensively at Tusita in Dharamsala, which wasn't extensive at all - just a few weeks. I am mostly "self-taught" through trial and error and consultation with texts and manuals, some informal discussions with other practitioners.

Regarding the comments on neither-perception-nor-non-perception state, Zhiyi counsels the cure of Meditation on Self. The first time I read that I was surprised, and I still don't know what he meant for certain, but it does seem to make sense in a literal way as a guard against settling into the state too comfortably.

In any event, Zhiyi counseled a two-fold approach involving the settling of the mind, quieting the distractions, and then turning the concentrated mind to contemplation of dharmas - whether dharmas in the sense of objects, or as teachings. My impression is that this is in a general sense what the Buddha did in recalling the ease and separation from desire he felt watching his father plow the fields when he was young and which he then used as the launch point for his further contemplations on the problem of suffering after concluding that ascetic practices were going to accomplish nothing but a premature death.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I generally use meditation not as something to relax, but to clear the mind so that I can immerse myself in the contemplation of a philosophical or doctrinal problem. I've been practicing Buddhism and engaging in various practices since I was a child so I can't say if the practice has helped or eroded my memory; I have always had an excellent memory, and still do, although not the same details that I used to; I chalk this up to not being concerned with many of the details that preoccupied me at earlier stages in life. I can say, however, with certainty that meditation has enabled me to think more clearly and decisively and to penetrate complicated and complex ideas/experiences.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
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Malcolm
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Malcolm »

januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
Actually, one's memory improves as a result of practicing Dharma.
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Johnny Dangerous
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?

I've had the opposite happen, especially practicing vipayshana type meditation I get flashes of memory that you would think should be long gone, and were dormant I guess until practicing.
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Meditate upon Bodhicitta when suffering occurs

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SpinyNorman
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by SpinyNorman »

Johnny Dangerous wrote:
januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
I've had the opposite happen, especially practicing vipayshana type meditation I get flashes of memory that you would think should be long gone, and were dormant I guess until practicing.
Yes, I sometimes experience very old memories "bubbling up", which can be a distraction - but letting them pass seems to be effective.
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Mkoll
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by Mkoll »

Martin007 wrote:
Johnny Dangerous wrote:
januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
I've had the opposite happen, especially practicing vipayshana type meditation I get flashes of memory that you would think should be long gone, and were dormant I guess until practicing.
Yes, I sometimes experience very old memories "bubbling up", which can be a distraction - but letting them pass seems to be effective.
Same here. Totally random memories.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
amanitamusc
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by amanitamusc »

Malcolm wrote:
januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
Actually, one's memory improves as a result of practicing Dharma.
I have found this same result.
ovi
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Re: Has your memory deteriorated since practicing Buddhism?

Post by ovi »

januarysprings wrote:As thoughts lesson, one merges into awareness etc has your memory deteriorated or anything else?

What to do?
If by memory deteriorating you mean not clinging all the time to passing ideas, then yes and it's a good thing. If you're really talking about memory, then no, your memory should improve, together with your attention etc.
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