No it is not. One may study the sutras to learn how to cultivate oneself, but just the study of the Buddha’s teachings is not the same as practicing those teachings to train oneself to have one’s three karmas of body, speech, and mind correspond with those of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. CLICK to find more on just what cultivation is.
Erroneous View #5: THE VIEW THAT STUDYING THE TEACHINGS OF THE SUTRAS IS CULTIVATING YOURSELF
Some people spend all of their time studying the teachings of the sutras. They can recite the sutras fluently from memory. They call themselves Buddhist cultivators. That is incorrect. They are scholars of Buddhism engaged in Buddhist studies. They are not cultivators. We should not approve of this erroneous view. Approving means that you yourself have this erroneous view or that you approve of others having this erroneous view. Either way reflects an erroneous view.
What Can One Do ?
You can listen to the Dharma Discourses by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and read the sutras to learn what you should do and not do. Make sure you do not hold any of the evil or erroneous views that we have been studying in these blogs. Cultivation is how you improve your behavior, your thinking, and your speech until you are like a bodhisattva. It is how you live your day-to-day life; how you treat other living beings and your environment. Only you can do that. No one can do that for you.