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CHAPTER
Deepening Meditation: Emptying and Focusing
Once a well-known professor visited a famous master of meditation. As they began to talk, tea was prepared and when it came the master began pouring in the professor's cup. He poured and poured until the cup overflowed and still he continued pouring. Finally the professor could not resist, and he said, “What are you doing? The tea has overflowed the cup but still you keep on pouring! Why do you keep trying to put more in when there is no room left in the cup?" The master replied, “Yes, my friend, you are right. Your mind is like this tea-cup. It is filled to the brim with opinions and prejudices, dogma and theology, logic and arguments. Whatever I pour into it now will overflow. There is no room left for anything to enter. Unless you empty your mind, what can I give you?"
In Eastern countries this anecdote is often used for beginners who are interested in meditation. When the students come, the teacher tells this story very early in their training. Meditation is not meant to add to what is already
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