Buddhism is not to study

When I first read Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" about 25 years ago , I was so amazed by the depth of the human mind so-called "psychology."   I was even scared and shocked to know the various human thoughts which I believed beyond description, were written in detail by Dostoevsky.   At that time, few book gave me  such an impact.  I studied  this book just before I left Japan for Hawaii.

Almost 17 years have passed since I came to Hawaii.   During the time, I even forgot  I had these "The Brothers Karamazov" here with me!  But  the other day , they caught my attention so suddenly.   What made me surprised  was, I completely forgot the story!   I couldn't recall even  brothers names in the novel.  So were the other literatures, too.   This shocking was much bigger than the one when I read this book, because I forgot what I studied.  I have thought why I forgot.

Now I think in this way.   I forgot many of the literatures because I studied.   And I realized that this is very normal because  "studying" is a process of learning.   Because it's a part of process of attaining knowledge, I could forget.   In other words, what is studying is a condition of "being on the way "to learn.  

On the other hand, learning is more powerful.    If I learned something, I get something living with me.  And  I would not forget because "to learn something" means "to experience and gain something."  So Buddhism is not to study, but to learn. 

Of course, studying is always interesting but you cannot get the final answer by studying.

It is just like the saying I learned at Oxford in 1994.  I still don't know who was the author, but it was on the postcard, titled "Why study?"   It says,

"The more I study,

The more I know,

The more I know,

The  more I forget,

The more I forget,

The less I know.

So why study?"

I wonder how do you see this question?

Maybe I should talk about it tomorrow at the Sunday Service.