The Teacup. . .
A learned man once went to visit a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher talked, the learned man frequently interrupted to express his own opinion about this or that. Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve teato the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
“Stop,” said the learned man. “The cup is full, no more can be poured in.”
“Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions,” replied the Zen teacher. “If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?”
Here’s an interesting question: What if the two men from before came from the same town? All we have to judge the world with are our own little measuring sticks. Our biased, subjective, arbitrary measuring sticks.
They rarely get the job done. Empathy, however, always works. Seeing the world through other people’s eyes is like throwing out the stick: You can’t do it without widening your perspective. It’s never easy and, sometimes, it ends up being unnecessary. But it should always be the first thing you try.
Peace and Love, Jim
#theteacup #thedailybuddha
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