A Fool Must Err Into Wisdom

Can one become as wise as the Buddha simply by following the Buddha's teachings? I don't think so. The Buddha's wisdom comes from the unique path he took in order to obtain it. Lived experience is a fundamentally different kind of learning, and I'd argue, the most important one.

I'm pretty convinced that every important life lesson has already been nicely and concisely codified into a common proverb. Something like if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together for example. Humans have lived long enough and our fundamental natures have not changed enough such that the realm of human experiences have sufficient coverage.

So whichever deep, fundamental life truth you arrive at is probably, unfortunately, not very original. But that is okay, because your idiosyncratic experience is unique, and you've learned the lesson because it's personal.

And although all the wisdom already exists out there, in proverbs, if you were to take the time to read all of them it would be in vain. You would not gain the wisdom simply by reading them. They would go over your head the next day or week after. In the time you read them you will think "of course this is common sense!", but you simply don't resonate with it. It is but a platitude.

Only until you've lived the lesson the proverb describes will you come to understand its meaning. Each must find their own path, even if such paths lead to the same end.

Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.
— Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

So while the Buddhists may critique the Hindus as being decadent and attached, the Hindus would critique the Buddhists as being unpractical and idealistic. How can you expect monks who were orphaned at monasteries when they were three years old to really understand “life is suffering”, the pains of romance, and the impermanence of status, when they never really experienced it thoroughly for themselves? Many of them appear not to: a great majority leaves the monastery as they become adults.
— Jonathan Bi, Buddhist Accelerationism