Empty Your Cup

Bruce Lee is often quoted as saying "Empty your cup that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality". But what exactly does this mean? A lot has been written and considered of this saying. We at Yong Studios believe that emptying your cup involves:

When you come to class, come to class ready to learn. Let go of any preconceived notions of martial arts, your limitations, the instructor, and the other students.

You may have heard the old Zen story of the student and the master:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served Tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!" "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

Keep this in mind when in class. How can we learn Tae Kwon Do if we come to class with opinions and limitations of ourselves and/or the instructor? Leave that stuff at the door before you enter. Free yourself of any baggage accumulated through the day and empty your mind so that you may be open to learn and progress in Tae Kwon Do. Unless we can empty ourselves ('empty our cup') and enter the moment free and open, our perceptions are clouded by delusion, and we can't see things clearly. For example, consider this when sparring. If you get too attached to an outcome (such as "I'm not sparring well", "I can't spar as good as Mr. Surage", or "I'm doing really well, I just kicked a Black Belt in the head, he/she must not be very good!") then you are stuck in your head. You will be amazed at how much easier sparring is when you get out of your head and just be present in the moment. Your focus will be sharp. Your sparring will "flow". You'll also realize how much more you learn.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash!” - Bruce Lee