Empty Your Cup: How to Gain Wisdom from Absolutely Any Source

There’s a reason this famous Zen philosophy is always relevant, now more than ever.

One day, when I was still an undergrad student, I was hanging around aimlessly on campus. The last class for the day was done, but I haven’t found the desire to go home yet, so I waited for my friends to finish their respective classes.

I sat on a nearby bench and pulled out my phone to kill time, scrolling on a manga reader app to read My Hero Academia.

Not long after, a friend of mine walked by and saw what I was doing. She commented with a surprised look: “Whoa, you read comics too? I thought you’re only interested in thick philosophy books and whatnot.” — funnily enough, this is not the first or only time I received a similar comment.

People often tell me that my silent demeanor gives off a stern aura, and they judge me as a stiff person only interested in serious and complicated stuff. There’s some truth to that judgment. I do enjoy reading complex materials and diving into a vast and random range of subjects.

However, the likes of Socrates and Nietzsche are not the only people whose works have inspired me. I also learned a lot of valuable lessons from the creations of Christopher Nolan, Stan Lee, Eiichiro Oda, and Tetsuya Nomura; to name a few.

I’m sure you’re familiar with at least one of those names. If you’re not, for the love of God, please Google them right now. You’re missing out on some remarkable human beings.

While comic books, TV shows (especially cartoons), and video games get a bad rap for being “childish” or “shallow,” the reality is totally contrary to that. Sure, some of them are trash, but the rest can be absolute masterpieces.

I think all you pop culture enthusiasts out there can agree that these humble mediums may contain more epicness and life lessons than the average people would admit.

Sometimes they present in-depth complexities in a subtle way, revealing their true value only to the thorough observer.

In this writing, we will explore this phenomenon, and prove that wisdom can be found even in the unlikeliest of sources.

Parable of the Empty Cup

I’m sure you are familiar with this tale, whether you’re well-versed in Chinese philosophy or not. It is often attributed to a conversation between Tokusan the Scholar and Ryutan the Zen Master.

Tokusan, a well-read Scholar who has studied the dharma extensively, visited Zen Master Ryutan to learn from his knowledge.

The Master then invited his guest for tea. Ryutan poured the tea into Tokusan’s cup, and continued to do so even after the tea has overflown, spilling a mess all over the table.

Flustered, Tokusan snapped: “Stop! The cup is full!”

Ryutan responded: “Precisely. You are like this cup. You ask for my teaching, but your cup is full. How can I put anything in? Before I can give you any lesson, you must empty your cup.”

The moral lesson is pretty simple: By the time of adulthood, our heads are already filled with so much information, and our world-view has become fixed. This hinders us from learning new knowledge.

In this condition, the ability to purge our minds of preconceptions — therefore preparing them to receive newer enlightenment — becomes a priceless skill.

To help you learn more, I’d like to extend this philosophy a bit further.

Same Water, Different Cup

Knowledge is water, and your mind is the cup.

The variable that’s completely within your control — and thus provides greater influence — is your own mind, not the knowledge.

To hold the greatest amount of water, we must alter the cup to maximize its capacity. Likewise, to absorb the greatest amount of knowledge, we must alter our minds to maximize their capacity.

Expanding on Tokusan and Ryutan’s story, I’d like to impart this message to you:

Your cup should be more than just empty.

Emptiness is a prerequisite. It is the initial point to begin your quest for wisdom, but you should never stop there. There are other ways for you to modify your cup and ensure its holding capacity is optimal, for instance:

• It should have the appropriate size, not too small so it can contain the maximum amount of water, but not too big so it fits perfectly in your hand.
• It should be able to handle both hot and cold temperatures, so it can hold a wider range of liquid.
• It should be sealed with a cap sturdy enough to withstand impact, so when it tumbles you won’t lose any hard-earned water.
• It should be equipped with a filter, so that any impurities would be separated from the water.

I can continue with other examples, but I’m sure you already get the idea. Adjust your cup to contain water in the purest quality and greatest quantity, using any way you have at your disposal. That’s what it comes down to.

Knowledge is water, and the universe is an endless ocean. Far too rich and overwhelming for us to control — but you can control your cup.

Let’s apply this framework to a case study.

Case Study: The Savant & The Fool

People react differently to the same stimulus. A bar of gold might be valuable in the hands of some, but it can also be worthless for those who don’t know how to use it.

Imagine two contrasting personas: a savant who watches Digimon Adventure, and a fool who reads the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

The savant, while he is only watching a children’s show, gains numerous insights from it.

• He learned virtuous qualities from the crests of the Digidestined: courage, friendship, love, sincerity, kindness, etc. Afterward, he applied these virtues in his life.
• He noticed that this cartoon contains subtle references from various literary works, one of them being H.P. Lovecraft’s Chtulhu Mythos. This sparked his interest in the topics and led him to find out more.
• He appreciated the storyline, character designs, soundtracks, and other nuances that make the show great. This inspired him to create works greater than the one he’s just consumed.

As for the fool, while he is reading a manuscript full of an Ancient Roman emperor’s wisdom, only manages to do shallow things with it.

• Instead of reading until the end, he got bored after turning a few pages and is satisfied by that progress.
• Instead of truly trying to understand the concepts of Stoicism expressed by Marcus Aurelius, he is fixated on letting people know that he has “read a book about Stoicism.”
• Instead of focusing on the book’s substance, he is distracted by the poetic vocabulary and only thinks about “how Instagrammable these quotes are.”

The effectiveness of all tools depends on its user. Remember, it’s your cup that matters most. Not the water.

If a simple mindset shift can help us find so much knowledge in a children’s show, imagine how much more we can gain if we apply it to actual academic texts?

Vice versa.

A Penchant for Reason

With the information deluge caused by the internet, the availability of knowledge is no longer the problem. Think about it: Wikipedia alone contains (almost) the entirety of human knowledge.

Do you know what the problem is, then? I’m sure you do: it’s our receptiveness to this flood of information. There’s a reason the story of Tokusan & Ryutan withstood the test of time — its lesson only grows more relevant in this post-modern era.

With the right frame of mind, we can learn anything from anywhere. It is a mistake to restrict critical thinking only to examining conventional educational content like scholarly literature or online tutorials.

Learning starts with a question and ends with an answer — which can take the shape of another question. The drive to pursue this answer continuously and extensively, that’s the basic tenet for learning anything. A penchant for reason, a thirst for understanding.

To conclude, I will leave you with this message:

Rather than teaching you new wisdom, this writing is merely trying to draw forth what you already had in you.

After all, this is just another body of water.

What matters most is that cup you’re holding in your hand.