My favourite zen story involves a cup of tea and a zen master.

A renowned scholar decides to visit a zen master. You see, he want’s to learn everything the master knows. So when they meet this scholar tells the master that he wants to be taught everything this man has learned.

The wise master, does not answer, but invites the young man to a cup of tea. The master pours the tea into the young mans cup, but as he reaches the full capacity of the cup, he keeps on pouring and spills the tea, until the young man exclaims with surprise “What are you doing? Can’t you see that the cup is already full?”

To which the zen master replies, “You are like this cup of tea, you are already full. You need to empty your cup for me to pour more tea into it.”

This beautifully simple story encapsulates the essence of learning. Often you have to discard what you think you know, in order to learn. As Yoda once said :”You must unlearn what you have learn.” Discarding your opinions, stereotypes, assumptions and presumptions can be difficult at times but is essential if learning is your goal. And with time you will see how much this story is applicable to many other things.