Empty your Cup...

[James Bullock]

"To be empty, completely empty, is not a fearsome thing; it is absolutely essential for the mind to be unoccupied; to be empty, unenforced, for then only can it move into unknown depths."

J. Krishnamurti

[humble monk]

I would tend to agree, however easier said than done.

[bushido_man96]

Yes, definitely easier said than done. I don't know if I would want to totally empty my mind or not. Although, I do kind of agree with the idea of "empty your cup," as in to open your mind to allow new things to be experienced.

[Greenfire54]

one thing i read in the book "Zen in the Martial Arts", is that emptying your cup could aslo be applied to learning new styles of martial arts. When training in a new style, alot of people want to compare it to another style or ignore one way of doing a technique for another. When you empty your cup, you should take in all aspects of what your doing. just try and be open minded to whats going on and what your trying to learn

[tenshinka]

Yes, definitely easier said than done. I don't know if I would want to totally empty my mind or not. Although, I do kind of agree with the idea of "empty your cup," as in to open your mind to allow new things to be experienced.

Its not so much empty, as it is free from attachment, in my experience. Your mind will always have thoughts, and action...consciously, and subconsciously. The trick is, just letting them pass, so as Krishnamurti says, you can move into "unknown" depths.

The nature of the world is illusory, and always changing. This type of mind set, is to allow things to happen, and not hold on to them...These have been defined in such things as the Reiki precepts (Just For Today...)

Also, in the Buddha's 4 noble truths, the first of which is "There Is Suffering", not there is suffering in____ or there is suffering because ____...simply enough it exists, with not attachment....

Intriguing stuff, but as you said, a hard state of mind, even with years of practice to truly attain, and even begin to understand...

[Tiger1962]

Applying the phrase to let's say: being in class --- it's important to "empty your cup" before you being training, however, it's hard to do if you had a really bad day at work or if there's something going on in your life - say a sick family member - that's hard to "forget about" for 1 or 2 hours.

Now, if you are talking about meditating, where you let your thoughts flow freely, I think it's a lot easier to do.

But, I would agree though that emptying one's cup is important.

[tallgeese]

Emptying in a context of not using preconcieved notions to interfear with learning new aspects of fighting is a good thing. That willingness to learn is what keeps your own skills evolving.

However, prior experiance can be a good touchstone for basing new knowledge gains. It can lead to quiker learning of similar movement patterns. This is useful as well. Also, you always have to keep your own combative plan and principles in mind so you can assess how these new skills fit into your strategy.

So, as an actdote to learning it seems sound. However, you have to keep the grand strategy in mind at all times as to now get side tracked into areas that aren't propelling you towards your goal, whatever that may be.

[tenshinka]

Applying the phrase to let's say: being in class --- it's important to "empty your cup" before you being training, however, it's hard to do if you had a really bad day at work or if there's something going on in your life - say a sick family member - that's hard to "forget about" for 1 or 2 hours.

Now, if you are talking about meditating, where you let your thoughts flow freely, I think it's a lot easier to do.

But, I would agree though that emptying one's cup is important.

There is a difference between a meditative mind, and an open mind...During training, and learning, you don't want a meditative mind (Krishnamurti is a Yoga/spiritual/meditation teacher, so in context:).

In Korean, we actually use "Cho Shim" which means "beginner's mind", someone eager to learn, and open to the teachings.

IMHO true meditation (and the meditative mind) is MUCH harder to attain, then the simple act of focusing on your training (emptying your mind).

[Tiger1962]

Applying the phrase to let's say: being in class --- it's important to "empty your cup" before you being training, however, it's hard to do if you had a really bad day at work or if there's something going on in your life - say a sick family member - that's hard to "forget about" for 1 or 2 hours.

Now, if you are talking about meditating, where you let your thoughts flow freely, I think it's a lot easier to do.

But, I would agree though that emptying one's cup is important.

There is a difference between a meditative mind, and an open mind...During training, and learning, you don't want a meditative mind (Krishnamurti is a Yoga/spiritual/meditation teacher, so in context:).

In Korean, we actually use "Cho Shim" which means "beginner's mind", someone eager to learn, and open to the teachings.

IMHO true meditation (and the meditative mind) is MUCH harder to attain, then the simple act of focusing on your training (emptying your mind).

Hey, I like that explanation! Thanks for setting me straight on that.

[bushido_man96]

Emptying in a context of not using preconcieved notions to interfear with learning new aspects of fighting is a good thing. That willingness to learn is what keeps your own skills evolving.

However, prior experiance can be a good touchstone for basing new knowledge gains. It can lead to quiker learning of similar movement patterns. This is useful as well. Also, you always have to keep your own combative plan and principles in mind so you can assess how these new skills fit into your strategy.

So, as an actdote to learning it seems sound. However, you have to keep the grand strategy in mind at all times as to now get side tracked into areas that aren't propelling you towards your goal, whatever that may be.

I think you are right on top of it here, tallgeese.

I had an "empty your cup" moment at the Aikido seminar I attended last weekend. I went in with my prior knowledge, and even had to stop myself from my natural TKD tendencies (which was my "it hits all by itself moment" ). But, what I had to do, was try not to do my natural TKD/Hapkido stuff, and just do things the way the Sensei was showing us to do it. This worked surprisingly well for me, too. I still used my Hapkido knowledge of wrist cranking and joint locking, etc., to work on some of the locks and stuff, but with the new Tai Sabaki and such, emptying my cup was the only way to go.

Man, I'm getting all spiritual and stuff....