Only with a Solid Foundation Can One Attain Realization

After everyone studying the Dharma has mastered the theoretical knowledge needed for practice to a certain degree, they should not spend more time and energy on theory, because no matter how much theory one learns, it remains theory in the end; it cannot become one's most genuine wisdom with which to withstand birth and death and attain liberation. Only by realizing the Buddha's teachings through actual practice can great wisdom arise, and only then can one attain liberation. And to realize it, one must begin cultivating step by step from the foundational Four Noble Truths, realizing it bit by bit; one cannot practice in a leapfrog fashion. 

We should now start by building the foundation; the foundation is very important, and we must lay it well. Because if the foundation is not laid well, no matter how profound the Dharma one studies, one cannot study it to ultimate completion; one can only form a kind of view and reach the level of intellectual understanding, but cannot actually realize it. If the theory one has learned cannot be realized, true wisdom will not arise; only the wisdom of personal awakening can lead us out of the mire of birth and death. 

Therefore, we should now begin cultivating from the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness, first attaining the liberation of the Small Vehicle, and then, using this method, devote ourselves diligently to the investigation of Chan in the Great Vehicle, whereby we can awaken to the tathāgatagarbha. After that, we observe the functions and roles of the tathāgatagarbha and thereby obtain the wisdom of specific characteristics (viśeṣa-lakṣaṇa); as wisdom further grows, after passing through the final barrier, we then investigate the consciousness-only teachings, immersing ourselves in the functions and roles of the tathāgatagarbha's seeds, and possessing a portion of the consciousness-only seed wisdom and the wisdom of the varieties of paths. Such wisdom is truly remarkable. But wisdom as great as this cannot be attained in one or a few lifetimes; it is achieved through the accumulation of wholesome roots and merit over life after life, even over countless kalpas, and is realized step by step upon the very firm foundation of the initial basics of the Buddha's teachings.