WHEN THERE IS NO SPACE IN THE CUP

I was helping a small group of youngsters, yesterday, on writing skills.. There was a cup on my table and it was empty, as I had just finished drinking my tea. The exercise I had given to them was to make a small write-up, or tell a story, using an image word. As an example, I told them this popular story, using the image word - cup…

Once, a scholar from the West came to a Japanese Zen Master to learn the Buddhist philosophy. As a tradition, before enrolling the Western Scholar as his student, the Zen Master served him tea. As the Master was pouring tea in the cup, the scholar cried, “Stop, stop… The cup is full, it’s overflowing!”

The Zen Master smiled and said to his would-be student, “Just as this cup has no space in it for more tea, your mind, too, may be full and may not have any space for more wisdom… You need to empty your cup, my friend.”

Sixteen--year-old Utsav, my own Scholar, here in this group, interrupted me, the moment he heard ‘Japanese Zen Master’: “It’s Chinese Zen Master, not Japanese… Zen is from China, and not from Japan.”

I smiled. “How do you know, my boy?” I asked my scholar student.

“I have read about it, Sir,” my student said.

“Fair enough,” I said to my student, “But, was it necessary to say that immediately… Couldn’t you hold that urge to correct me till I finished telling the story?”

“Sorry Sir, but, I think, I am right. You can google,” my scholar boy was confident. He had still not got the point. Anyway, I googled and read out this:

“Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty as Chan Buddhism. It was strongly influenced by Taoism, and developed as a distinct school of Chinese Buddhism. From China, Chan Buddhism spread south to Vietnam, northeast to Korea and east to Japan, where it became known as Seon Buddhism and Japanese Zen, respectively”

I, also, googled and read out this:

Zen Buddhism emphasizes samātha. The Japanese word Zen is derived from the Chinese word, pinyin: chán, which is derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna "concentration". The Japanese word zazen means "sitting meditation".

My next story was based on the image word, ‘Lunch’. I told them this favourite story of mine…

Once, in a jungle, a Cheetah was teaching his son the art of hunting. As the training session was on, they smelt a prey at some distance... It was a Deer.

“Son, listen,” the Cheetah whispered to his cub, “a Deer is on our way… Watch me how I hunt, okay?”

“Okay dad,” said the little-one, excited.

Then, the father and the son hid behind a large bush, where they waited holding their breath. And, as the Deer was about to cross their way, the Cheetah, the seasoned hunter, leapt from behind the bush and tried to grab the delicate Deer. But, the Deer escaped... The chase began...

The faster the Cheetah ran, even faster the Deer did... till the Deer disappeared completely from the sight of Cheetah...

The Cheetah, finally, returned to his son and collapsed, completely exhausted...

Looking at his father’s plight, the little-one remarked, “Dad you lost and the Deer won.”

The father pulled his innocent son close to his bosoms, and gently caressing the soft head, said, “Yes my son, I lost and the Deer won.”

Then, with a warmth-filled sparkle in his eyes, the father asked his son, “Do you want to know why?”

“Yes dad,” the son replied, curiously...

“Son, I lost and the Deer won,” the father explained to his young-cub, “because, I was running for my ‘lunch’... and the Deer was running for her ‘life’...

And, as the little-son was still absorbing the essence of this priceless lesson, the caring father concluded, “And, son, that made all the difference between winning and losing!”

Even before I could catch my next breath, my young scholar, Utsav, said, “But Sir, that’s not possible. How can a Deer run faster than a Cheetah?”

“Very much possible, my boy,” I said with a smile, “if you can make some space in your cup.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Kamal Kishore Rikhari