My advice to anybody researching any tradition or system or any subject at all in fact would be much the same. The following is what I think and is for anybody who thinks as I do.

1. Assume you know nothing, then you will probably be right.

2. That which you do know will come in useful - later, that is when you have studied the particularity of the system or tradition under examination.

3. There is a zen phrase "beginner's mind" that expresses the proper state perfectly, not only for the beginner, but for the old-timer - I'll not say adept - even more so.

4. By taking it on in it's own terms you learn what those terms are, what the unique flavour is.

5. No system exists in complete isolation, but in relation to others. This does not mean that it is not different or that they blend seamlessly, they are probably more like the separate slates that overlap on a  roof.

6. While reading (books, emails, whatever) is a necessary prerequisite, it takes real work, mental, emotional, physical, to digest and really understand a system. Nothing other than that friction generates a flame.

7. If you are too afraid of seeming a  fool to ask questions or to give wrong answers, then you probably are a fool. In that case you have nothing to lose and you might as well ask those stupid questions and give those wrong answers. This is how we learn. After all, if you sneak in a really good question or get some of the right answers, then the world can always revise its opinon of you upwards...

8. Having taken the trouble to learn about a system in its own terms, relate it to your own tradition. This way, instead of having an eclectic mess, you might achieve a synthesis.

8. In the context of any given system, this might mean that what you do ceases to be that system or any other preexisting system or tradition, but it will no longer matter, because it will be your own.