Buddhist numerical lists

In the culture of the Buddha’s time, writing was used for calculating, accounting, and other business and government transactions, but not for recording spiritual teachings. Perhaps it was considered too lowly for this purpose or too unreliable: Scribal errors could easily creep into a teaching and not be recognized as such. A great deal of effort was thus put into finding mnemonic devices to help students memorize large bodies of spiritual teachings—in particular, the traditions of the Vedas. At the same time, groups of students were taught to memorize together as a way of compensating for the vagaries of each individual memory. Thus by the Buddha’s time, Indian culture had developed a sophisticated tradition for training people to develop the mental skills needed to maintain spiritual teachings accurately from one generation to the next. Working within this culture, the Buddha presented his teachings so that they would be easy both to memorize and to understand. —Ṭhanissaro Bhikkhu

Much of the Sutta Pitaka can be viewed as elaboration of the lists of the Buddha’s teaching. Rupert Gethin notes, “using the lists is not merely an aid to learning the Dhamma by rote, as it were; on the contrary, the lists help one learn the Dhamma with a view to its inner structure and dynamic […] Thus to learn and know the lists is to learn and know how they fit together, how they interconnect to form the structure and pattern of the Dhamma.” Each list offers us a rich source for contemplation and study, providing an expansive and detailed explication of the liberating path.

“[A bhikkhu] has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and accumulates what he has learned. Those teachings that are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, which proclaim the perfectly complete and pure spiritual life—such teachings as these he has learned much of, retained in mind, recited verbally, mentally investigated, and penetrated well by view.” —Aṅguttara Nikāya 8:2