Shambhala Sun March 2008
The earliest Buddhist scriptures, which were originally passed down orally, included aural cues (such as repetitive phrases and repeating numbers) to help practitioners remember and recite them. Today, our skill in using mnemonic devises is often underdeveloped and it can be hard to keep straight the many lists of truths and factors and their various constituents in the Buddhist canon (the four noble truths the five hindrances, the ten perfections, the twelve links of dependent origination, and so on and so on). Visual learners will especially welcome this useful little book by Paul Gerhards, who has organized the Buddha's basic teachings "by the numbers" and provided a map of how they interrelate. He also gives a brief explanation of each list and each member of each list. If the map were the territory, this guide would be all you would need.