It's not necessary for beginners to know everything about Buddhism. We don't need to become great Buddhist educators responsible for promoting Buddhism, but we should have a good foundation of knowledge to make our teachings grounded, reasonable, and acceptable. We are not scholars either. They need to read a lot to become experts in their research on Buddhism. I have collected texts by those scholars on Buddhism that could fill an entire library. However, their writings reveal that their understanding of Buddhism remains only at the literal level. Without any direct experience of Buddhist practice, they cannot grasp the essence of Buddhism. Although they might sound very eloquent and articulate marvelously on Buddhism, they lack the most basic experience of meditation.
What is the most basic experience of meditation? It's quite straightforward. Sit for half an hour, without allowing any thoughts to arise. If half an hour seems daunting, try it for just three minutes, or even one. Give it a try, without worrying about the outcome. Sit with your legs crossed and focus on an object. Do not let any thoughts enter your mind or fall asleep.
Unfortunately, many scholars suffer from a similar problem. They may be skilled at handling Buddhist concepts and terms, but lack actual experience in Buddhist practice. This leads to Buddhism becoming a mere collection of meaningless jargon, used only theoretically. In Buddhism, such people are called "armchair scholars". Although they may possess knowledge about Buddhism, they have never tasted the essence of Dharma practice, not even remotely. Their minds have never directly experienced the cognitive realms described and explained by Buddhist ideas and terms.
I know that using terms such as "cognitive realms" may lead to further misunderstandings since the essence of Buddhism transcends language, words, and concepts.
For instance, they may discuss Emptiness and offer a detailed explanation of its meaning based solely on textual understanding. However, without having personally experienced Emptiness, their interpretations and explanations could be incorrect and misleading.
People often find Buddhist books challenging to read because scholars tend to complicate simple ideas. For example, the term Alayavijnana, or base consciousness, can be explained in dozens of ways, some of which are poorly done. Reading such books can be so dizzying that one might need painkillers before starting. Even if one perseveres through the confusion, they will eventually find themselves lost in the middle of nowhere. Here's an example: a mug is called a mug or a thermos mug, and we learn where it's made and what it's made of, but we don't learn what it's for.
To start our journey, we must find texts that work best for us. We study these texts to understand and practice their methods, especially for lay practitioners in modern times. Our lives are busy no matter where we live, be it America or China, and few of us have the luxury of practicing dharma without also needing to work or care for our families.
For many people, being a full-time practitioner of Buddhism is simply not feasible due to the constant barrage of distractions from mass media and other sources. With so much information constantly bombarding us, it can be difficult to find the time to study and practice the teachings of Buddhism. However, one way to approach this challenge is to focus on finding and mastering the specific Buddhist theory and practice methods that work best for us as individuals. By doing so, we can gradually work towards achieving liberation, even if we don't have as much free time as we would like for our studies.
This advice is particularly relevant for lay practitioners who may have other obligations and responsibilities in their daily lives. However, for those who aspire to dedicate their lives to spreading the teachings of Buddhism, it will likely require a much deeper and more extensive study of Buddhist texts. While this may be challenging, it is also a noble and admirable pursuit.
Excerpted from: The Relationship Between Buddhist Theory and Practice
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