Only the Experienced Can Guide Way

Wisdom without precepts and meditation is merely intellectual understanding. Such intellectual understanding is like when an ordinary person, through study and intellectual reasoning, can speak about the Dharma concerning ten-stage bodhisattvas, equal-enlightenment bodhisattvas, and Buddhahood. Though he has not traversed any part of the path himself, he can roughly describe the methods for walking each stage; yet he absolutely cannot elaborate on the details unless he speaks falsely. Whether others can progress swiftly or even successfully follow the path to Buddhahood he describes remains a question.

In contrast, one who has truly walked that path need only point the way. Others, following the guidance, can swiftly reach the destination—without detours, without circuitous paths, without twists and turns, proceeding directly to the goal.