I first came across this story in the disaster movie 2012, when the Dalai Lama is imparting some wisdom onto one of his students… 

Once upon a time, there was a wise Zen master. People travelled from far away to seek his help. In return, he would teach them and show them the way to enlightenment.

On this particular day, a scholar came to visit the master for advice. “I have come to ask you to teach me about Zen,” the scholar said.

Soon, it became obvious that the scholar was full of his own opinions and knowledge. He interrupted the master repeatedly with his own stories and failed to listen to what the master had to say. The master calmly suggested that they should have tea.

So the master poured his guest a cup. The cup was filled, yet he kept pouring until the cup overflowed onto the table, onto the floor, and finally onto the scholar’s robes. The scholar cried “Stop! The cup is full already. Can’t you see?”

“Exactly,” the Zen master replied with a smile. “You are like this cup — so full of ideas that nothing more will fit in. Come back to me with an empty cup.”

This story works on a number of levels for me – firstly in order to embrace the new, we need to make space and sometimes have to be able to let go of the old, particularly those things we hold onto that are no longer serving us, indeed may even be holding us back. 

Secondly, it reminds us that we need to stay humble, be open and willing to change our pre-conceptions.  As adults we are so full of information, biases that we don’t even realise – so much of what we experience, we perceive is through assumptions and biases. 

So emptying the cup to free up the space for new ideas isn’t as easy as it might seem…

Image: Soulful Arogya