This book studies the diverse array of species of memory which are discussed in Buddhist theoretical discourse and which are thought to function in religious practice. Included are discussions of Buddhist meditation, visualization, prayer, commemoration of the Buddha, dharani practice, the use of mnemonic lists to condense lengthy scriptures, and the purported recollection of infinite previous lives that immediately preceded Sakyamuni's attainment of buddhahood. Even enlightened awareness itself is said by some Buddhist schools to consist in a 'mnemic engagement' with reality as such.
The authors also explore Buddhist views on mundane acts of memory such as recognizing, reminding, memorizing, and storing data. One of the most striking discoveries is that perception is said to be intimately related to certain types of memory. Such a relation is cultivated in Buddhist practices; yet even in the ordinary act of perception, memory is recognized as having an important role. Several essays investigate if, and if so, how, meditative mindfulness and recollection of the past- both of which can be designated by the term smrti - are connected within the Buddhist tradition. The question of whether recollection of the past can be explained without violating the foundational Buddhist notions of the radical impermanence and no-self is addressed by several of the contributing scholars.


In the Mirror of Memory, Janet Gyatso, SUNY Press, Paperback, 1992, 307 pages, $40.00

Janet Gyatso is Assistant Professor of Religion at Amherst College.

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Janet Gyatso

Memories of the Buddha
Donald S. Lopez, Jr.

Smrti in the Abhidharma Literature and the Development of Buddhist Accounts of Memory of the Past
Padmanabh S. Jaini

The Omission of Memory in the Theravadin List of Dhammas: On the Nature of Sanna
Nyanaponika Thera

Mindfulness and Memory: The Scope of Smrti from Early Buddhism to the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma
Collett Cox

Memory in Classical Indian Yogacara
Paul J. Griffiths

Buddhist Terms for Recollection and Other Types of Memory
Alex Wayman

The Matikas: Memorization, Mindfulness, and the List
Rupert Gethin

Letter Magic: A Peircean Perspective on the Semiotics of Rdo Grub-chen's Dharani Memory
Janet Gyatso

Commemoration and Identification in Buddhanusmrti
Paul Harrison

The Amnesic Monarch and the Five Mnemic Men: "Memory" in Great Perfection (Rdzogs-chen) Thought
Matthew Kapstein

Remembering Resumed: Pursuing Buddhism and Phenomenology in Practice
Edward S. Casey

Glossary

Contributors