Enlightenment first or last?
An important question that arises at this point is: whether enlightenment arises after meditation, or whether one should be enlightened before the meditation. This seems to be a question that arose in the mind of Acariya Buddhagosa when beginning to write the Visuddhimagga. Obviously, he thought that knowledge came after meditation. This was why he saw the path as sīla-samādhi-paññā, which he saw as starting with control of behaviour, followed by concentration of mind, and ending up in gaining insight.
He even quoted the words of the Buddha, in support of this position:
The enlightened human, being disciplined
– Sīle patiṭṭhāya naro sapañño
Develops the mood and intellect
– Cittaη paññānca bhavayaη
This tranquil intelligent mendicant
– Ātāpi nipako bhikkhu
He does solve this problem