[iiilizium]

until the mind is sotapanna (stream entry), to learn without a teacher is generally very difficult, possibly impossible

(and what is stream entry? to taste & have complete confidence in the way to Nibbana)

we can read sutta but, without the capacity for faith in more reasonable explanations than our own, we can just develop our own idiosyncratic views about what we study, particularly the suttas, which are mere translations & often not completely reliable

whilst blind faith is never advisable, we must be prepared to accept with faith more reasonable sounding explanations of the path than our own when necessary

the teachings & path of practise have always been passed down through lineages and to only trust in ourselves is probably mostly a path of limited fruit

Buddha placed his faith in certain teachers until intuitively feeling their teachings did not fulfil his goal. thus he left them

if we are yet to find satisfactory peace in our lives then to not be prepared to consider the views of another, with 'blind faith', can be problematic

regards