"A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too..." and so on. Finally the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and the kept pouring until the cup overflowed.

"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"

"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

I've come to realise many things. One is the distinction between showing, and imposing.

I've shown my ideas to many people. All with different but valid opinions, which I can then use in furthering my journey. The problem came when too many people simply agreed with me, and when someone finally came who did not agree with my ideas, I changed from showing to imposing. And like the story, by not emptying myself of my own idea, I could not receive the opinion of the person I was showing mine to.

For a long time I've scorned people who imposed their ideas upon me. I believed it better to let people find their own answers, and I've known about this story of the Zen Master and the Scholar for years. So it was rather saddening when I realised today that I fell victim to this mistake that I swore for years I would not make. Even more sad, is that I made this mistake as I was literally drinking tea with a friend.

Having made the mistake though, I understand the lesson on another level. It reinforced my belief that it's hard to really know something until we experience or use it ourselves.