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… O nce, 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.” S ixteen--year-old Utsav, my own Scholar, here in this group, interrupted me, the moment he heard ‘Japanes...