Though all through life the fool
might wait upon the wise,
no more Dhamma can he sense
than spoon the taste of soup.
Explanation: The fool, even if he kept the company of a wise person intimately over a life-time, will not become aware of the nature of experience, just as a spoon will not know the taste of soup.
The Story of Venerable Udayi (Verse 64)
While residing at the Jetavana Monastery, the Buddha spoke this verse, with reference to Venerable Udayi, a pretentious monk. The story goes that when the monks left the Hall of Truth, Venerable Udayi used to go in and sit in the Seat of the Dhamma. Now one day some visiting monks saw him there, and thinking to themselves, “This must be the Buddha,” asked him some questions about the aggregates of being and other matters. Discovering that he knew nothing about any of these things, they said in scorn, “Who is this monk that he should live in the same monastery with the Buddha? He does not even know about the aggregates of being, the elements of being, and the organs and objects of sense.” So they reported the matter to the Buddha.