Manjushri Asks a Question

Manjushri "Gentle Glory" the Bodhisattva associated with Insight

Then Manjushri asked Chief in Doctrine, "According to what the Buddha says, if any sentient beings accept and hold the true teaching, they can cut off all afflictions. Why then are there those who accept and hold the true teaching and yet do not cut off afflictions, who go along with anger and resentment, go along with jealousy and stinginess, go along with deception and flattery, compelled by the power of these things, having no will to detach from them? If they are able to accept and hold the true teaching, why then do they still produce afflictions in their mental actions?" Chief in Doctrine answered in verse:

Listen well and clearly
To the true meaning of what you ask.
It is not only by much learning
That one can enter the Buddhas' teaching.

Like a man floating in water
Who dies of thirst, afraid of drowning:
So are those who are learned
Who do not apply the teaching.

Like a person skilled in medicine
Who can't cure his own disease:
So are those who are learned
But do not apply the teaching.

Like someone counting others' treasures
Without half a coin of his own:
So is the one who is learned
Who doesn't practice the teaching.

~The Avatamsaka Sutra