Emptying your Inner Cup
‘A student learns one-quarter from his master, the second quarter from fellow students, and the third when he teaches. Time and experience confer the last quarter.’ -A Sanskrit saying.
Someone once asked me why I was learning martial-art. How was it useful for a spiritual teacher to know martial art? While I gave the person a response at that time, I wanted to share why I pursue martial art and something I have learnt from the great martial art legend, Bruce Lee.
There is a beautiful incident from the life of Bruce Lee. Once a student approached Bruce Lee to learn martial arts. Bruce Lee asked him why he wanted to learn from him, and the student replied that he liked Bruce Lee’s form and demonstration. Bruce Lee then asked the student to show him some forms i.e., some Katas that he already knew. The student readily demonstrated them. Then Bruce Lee asked him a question – “Are you willing to unlearn what you have learnt?” The student was surprised and replied that he was not willing, as he had spent many years learning these things.
Bruce Lee then told the student a story of a professor who visits a Zen master. The Zen master pours some tea for the professor. But even when the cup is full, the Zen master continues to pour tea into it, allowing the tea to overflow. When the professor stops him and asks him why he is doing that, the master replies, “Your cup, i.e., your mind, is filled with your knowledge and anything I say will make it overflow. So, empty your cup first before we discuss anything.”
The student who had come to learn from Bruce Lee understood what this meant. He had to let go of his own learning and ‘empty his cup’ before he could learn from Bruce Lee. Actually, if you study the life of Bruce Lee, you will notice that he personally practiced what he taught. In Hong Kong, he studied Wing-Chun under a celebrated master. Then, when he came to America, he observed Ed Parker’s Kenpo-karate and learnt a lot of hand techniques from him. He kept learning from others and created his own style and form of martial arts. He was someone who kept learning and unlearning. He was someone who never let his cup remain full.
There is a saying – ‘If one does not know music or literature or art, he is equal to an animal.’ Martial art is also an art. It makes us sensitive to life and brings about learning. It allows us to keep growing. Learning involves observation and listening. It also involves unlearning.
Learning martial arts is powerful. To learn it, one needs to unlearn, and to unlearn one needs to be open and exploring by nature. Body-mind coordination is important to martial arts and practicing it enhances our intelligence. Often, one has to be in a state of no-mind while performing it, which makes us feel like we are in meditation. That in itself makes martial art very attractive to me.
Also, all martial arts help keep the body at its peak efficiency. It teaches us to use the body not only efficiently but also sharply. It enables effective action which helps us create maximum impact with minimum effort. Be it at work or with the family, one should act with minimum effort but maximum impact. To put a nail on the wall, we need just 2 % effort from the wrist. But if we don’t know better, then we will use the whole body and put in 90% effort to drive a nail into the wall. Martial art helps you understand how much effort is really needed for any action.
Martial art is a great teacher in more ways than one. It continues to motivate me, challenge me and teach me. But most importantly, it always reminds me to empty my cup first.
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