One of the things Sheng Yen taught was that it is good for practitioners to
read the sutras. He encouraged us to read them.
He gave several reasons, and I suppose there are others.
(when Sheng Yen was on 6-year solitary retreat in the mountains of Taiwan, he
had no Teacher about, so he had to rely on the Teachings to keep his practice
on track).
But one caution he raised to us was that we must not try to INTERPRET or
understand the SUTRAS through the light of any experience we have had.
(say, on retreat: he means enlightenment-experience, or "wu-" experience, an
experience of emptiness, or experience of no-mind).
Instead, we should try to interpret our EXPERIENCE through the light of the
sutras.
He urged us to understand that if there is anything in or about our experience
that is not consistent with the sutras, then it is not Buddhist enlightenment,
and should be ignored, or discarded.
Keeping us safe! ;-)
I'm just sharing this snapshot of his teaching with all... .
So, another function of reading the sutras -- besides, again, keeping us from
the doing of evil during the time while we are reading! -- is that they can
serve as a "touchstone", to help us see if what we regard as precious metal is
really Gold. That's how the Old Man used them.
A practitioner can try out this test, when (other) teachers are scarce.
--Joe
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