Why Study?

If you close your eyes, you won’t see any light. Things won’t be bright. When things aren’t bright, you don’t see light and colors. You don’t see your way.

The Dhamma of study is like your eyes. Your eyes help you see where you’re going. Wherever you walk, you have to depend on your eyes to look ahead. While your eyes are looking, your feet keep walking at the same time. Whatever your activities, you have to depend on your eyes to open the way, to forge a trail through the darkness. That’s their nature.

It’s the same with the Dhamma of study. If you know how to put it to use, it serves a purpose. If you don’t put it to use, it won’t serve any purpose. It’s like having a knife that you hone until it’s sharp. If you put it away without using it, it won’t serve any purpose. No matter how sharp it is, if you don’t use it, if you put it away, it won’t serve any purpose. So when you’ve studied, you should put it to use so as to benefit from it. If you study but don’t put it to use, it’s like a farmer growing rice in a field but not harvesting the rice, or growing a garden but not harvesting the vegetables.

You have to study first. Only then should you think about going out to practice in the forest. You have to study what the aim of practicing in the forest is. Only then should you go practice in the forest. It’s like knowing the purpose of growing rice before you grow rice, or the purpose of growing vegetables before you grow vegetables. Know the aim, the purpose, of practicing in the forest.

(The Teachings of Ajahn Chah)