Empty Your Cup - A Significant Story

[Shanmugam]

The following Zen story is very significant:

"Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era, received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

Like this cup, Nan-in said, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

 

When people are already full of ideas, beliefs and concepts, it is very difficult for them to be open minded. These people already have answers overflowing in their heads because of all they have learnt so far. But all those answers were just fed to their system and keep them in an illusory feeling of having known the truth. So, if anything new is fed to their heads, they can't accepts it without coloring it with the opinions that they already have. They also can't accept it if it contradicts with what is already in their heads.

When I recollect one of the first lessons that I received from Osho, I can remember his own explanation of this story. And I think it is very important for everyone to read this, especially for beginners..

 

Oshos' commentary:

You have come to an even more dangerous person than Nan-in, because an empty cup won't do; the cup has to be broken completely. Even empty, if you are there, then you are full. Even emptiness fills you. If you feel that you are empty you are not empty at all, you are there. Only the name has changed: now you call yourself emptiness. The cup won't do at all; it has to be broken completely. Only when you are not can the tea be poured into you, only when you are not is there no need really to pour the tea into you. When you are not the whole existence begins pouring, the whole existence becomes a shower from every dimension, from every direction. When you are not, the divine is.

The story is beautiful. It was bound to happen to a professor of philosophy. The story says a professor of philosophy came to Nan-in. He must have come for the wrong reasons because a professor of philosophy, as such, is always wrong. Philosophy means intellect, reasoning, thinking, argumentativeness. And this is the way to be wrong, because you cannot be in love with existence if you are argumentative. Argument is the barrier. If you argue, you are closed; the whole existence closes to you. Then you are not open and existence is not open to you.

When you argue, you assert. Assertion is violence, aggression, and the truth cannot be known by an aggressive mind, the truth cannot be discovered by violence. You can come to know the truth only when you are in love. But love never argues. There is no argument in love, because there is no aggression. And remember, not only was that man a professor of philosophy, you are also the same. Every man carries his own philosophy, and every man in his own way is a professor, because you profess your ideas, you believe in them. You have opinions, concepts, and because of opinions and concepts your eyes are dull, they cannot see; your mind is stupid, it cannot know.

Ideas create stupidity, because the more the ideas are there the more the mind is burdened. And how can a burdened mind know? The more ideas there are the more it is just like dust which has gathered on a mirror. How can the mirror mirror? How can the mirror reflect? Your intelligence is just covered by opinions -- the dust -- and everyone who is opinionated is bound to be stupid and dull. That's why professors of philosophy are almost always stupid. They know too much to know at all. They are burdened too much. They cannot fly in the sky, they can't have wings. And they are so much in the mind, they can't have roots in the earth. They are not grounded in the earth and they are not free to fly into the sky.

And remember, you are all the same. There may be differences of quantity, but every mind is qualitatively the same, because mind thinks, argues, collects and gathers knowledge and becomes dull. Only children are intelligent. And if you can retain your childhood, if you continuously reclaim your childhood, you will remain innocent and intelligent. If you gather dust, childhood is lost, innocence is no more; the mind has become dull and stupid. Now you can have philosophies.

The more philosophies you have, the more you are far away from the divine.

                        -  A Bird on the Wing, Chapter 1

[Joseph Maynor]

Here's the thing.  You need a huge amount of theory to become enlightened.  This is the taboo truth that a lot of people do not want to admit.   And you know what, let's stop bullshitting ourselves about this.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the end of this stupid denial.  Why the hell are we perpetuating some anti-theory perspective on enlightenment?  Enlightenment can be explained in a pamphlet.  I've seen it done.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnana_yoga

Hare Krishna dancers in Florence.  I saw this when I was there.  Changed my life.

Florence.  You're crazy not to go there at least once.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence

Edited July 27, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Ananta]

49 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

You need a huge amount of theory to become enlightened.

You don't need it for the initial recognition, but you do to "assimilate" that Self-knowledge. Especially, if you have questions/doubts and most do. That's why after 6 1/2 yrs of neo-advaita crap I turned to Vedanta.

[Joseph Maynor]

@Anna1 You need to burn-out need to know.  That takes as long as it needs to take for each person.  Paradoxically, it is by knowing a lot that you come to the conclusion of the limits of knowing.  Otherwise you're just a dogmatist, because it is not first-person knowledge for you.

Edited July 27, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Ananta]

18 minutes ago, Joseph Maynor said:

You need to burn-out need to know.

Yes, It took 8 years...searching in the wrong places didn't help. Also, the times of falling unconscious again for awhile, until the trusty suffering aspect awakened me again. 

I remember many years ago, on another forum asking, "how do you stay awakened?" A long term member was giving me advice and I said, "No, you misunderstand" ...I don't remember this stuff "at all" for weeks at a time..lol. 

Suffering always brought me back, eventually.

[Joseph Maynor]

@Anna1 It's so great that we can communicate effectively on here.  Language is so ambiguous and it takes a great tight-rope walker to keep meaning in check.  There is so much room for projection and argumentation in communication via writing.  

Edited July 27, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Ananta]

Just now, Joseph Maynor said:

@Anna1 It's so great that we can communicate on here.  Language is so ambiguous and it takes a great tight-rope walker to keep meaning in check.

Yes, it is and yes, it does.