“Emptiness, the starting point. In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty.”
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About this quote
Drop preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral — learning only starts when you stop defending your old views. Ask what assumptions keep you stuck and then take the work to let them go. Replace certainty with curiosity, practice openness, and measure progress by how quickly you can adopt better information.
When to use it
- Before coaching, put your ego aside and try the coach's method without arguing—test it before judging.
- When learning a new skill, clear your old shortcuts and follow the basics to see real improvement.
- In a meeting, stop insisting you're right; listen openly to others and let useful ideas in.
- Facing a problem, write down your assumptions, discard the ones you can't prove, and try a fresh approach.