from: World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (Bauhan Publishing, 2011)
from Chapter 1: HURRY SICKNESS
The Brimming Cup
There is a story about a western professor who comes to a Zen master in search of enlightenment. The monk offers his visitor some tea. But he fills the cup to the brim, and keeps on pouring, till the hot tea splashes out across the floor.
“What are you doing?” cries the professor.
“You look to me for wisdom,” says the monk. “But you are already so chock-a-block with your own thoughts and opinions that there’s no room in you for anything else.”
And smiling, he pours more tea into the brimming cup.
More tea, and yet more tea. It’s hot and sweet and comforting, but what’s it worth, if most of it runs out across the floor?
You can buy a copy of World Enough & Time direct from me:
Let me know where to send it, and if you’d like it signed.
(See too my full list of publications, including In Praise of Listening:
A Gathering of Stories.)
You can also get it from my publisher: www.bauhanpublishing.com
or from your friendly local bookstore. My own favorite is Broadside Books in Northampton, MA, www.broadsidebooks.com.
On May 24, 2024, Christian was interviewed by Loan Tran for Awakin.