Only Those Who Have Been There Can Guide the Way Correctly

Wisdom without precepts and meditative concentration is merely intellectual understanding. Such intellectual wisdom is like that of an ordinary person who, through study and mental speculation, can expound the teachings on the ten bhūmis, the bodhisattvas of the highest stage, and the attainment of buddhahood. He has never walked any part of the path, yet he can tell you a rough outline of how to traverse each section. But he absolutely cannot explain it in detail—unless he simply makes things up. So whether others, following the path to buddhahood that he describes, can travel it quickly or even travel it at all is itself a question.

But a person who has truly walked that path needs only to point the way once; others who follow his guidance can quickly reach the destination, without taking detours, without making roundabout routes, without twists and turns, arriving directly in a straight line.