Hello everyone, it’s time for another Zen Koan.
A master of Zen received a university professor who came to inquire about the Way.
The master began to serve his guest tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the tea as it spilled onto the floor. Then when he could no longer restrain himself, he shouted “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” the master said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
The lesson of this koan might be easy to understand, but it is difficult to do. Have you ever heard someone proclaim, “I’m the humblest person I know!” You might laugh at the thought, but that is how we often behave. Most people are terrible listeners. Even if we're listening to a close friend, we are often just waiting for our turn to speak. This koan reminds me of the older community college student who sits in the front row of class, as if eager to learn, but always ends up in a debate with the teacher. The student is not able to let go of their own assumptions, developed over many years, to learn something that might challenge their viewpoint. You must let go of your ego before you can embrace new knowledge.
The first step to overcoming the ego is to learn to be silent. When you learn to silence your own internal dialogue, you awaken to the reality of the present moment.
Who am I?
I write about martial arts, self-defense, and mental health. You can find my blogs about martial arts in the FightingArts Community.
So true.
Even applies to me and I am actually a good listener, but ofcourse, I am only human and do have that ego, which I do try to curb as much as possible, but I do get frustrated when what I have to say is actually extremely valuable- especially to the person that insists upon talking about the top of me and rabbiting on about nothing....And that's not my ego talking, that's having solutions to the problems that they are talking to me about....
Thanks for the comment! I think in the situation you described, perhaps it's a moment to reflect on the nature of the relationship. Some people are emotional vampires. Take care!
My pleasure and yes unfortunately you are right and there's far too many emotional vampires these days....
You take care and I look forward to seeing more of your posts.
Just as an FYI, I'd love you to check out my doco about the need to re-instate female only wards in hospitals for female mental health sufferers cause it is an issue that women face all over the globe- not just Australia and if you have any females in your life, this might be the most important info you'l ever hear...https://peakd.com/hive-120078/@chociscorpipro/ykzesyid
Cheers @senseiphil and talk soon eh.
Stay safe.
I like your post! It is very meaningful. When we speak, we usually repeat ourselves. When we listen, we are absorbing to be changing.
Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for sharing the story.
Another quote that I like is from Bruce Lee
"Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless — like water"
Thanks! Yes, Bruce Lee was really into Zen philosophy.
Congratulations @senseiphil! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Your next target is to reach 31000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
I love this! In asian philosophy we call this shunya. Emptiness or zero. The void out of which comes all creation. Bloom!