Interesting Zen story...
The Zen master Nan-in had a visitor who came to inquire about Zen who was a local university professor. But instead of listening, the visitor kept talking about his own
ideas. As he spoke, Nan-in served him tea. He poured tea into his visitor's
cup until it was full, then he kept on pouring until it overflowed.
The visitor noticed this and was finally unable to restrain himself. "Don't you see it's full?" he said. "No more will go in!"
"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"
Many students worldwide are just like this university professor. Sometimes when students come to the dojo they are already filled up with ideas and theories. This disables them from learning and just like the professor more will not go in. Learning the techniques is hard enough, but we make it harder when we come in with our own baggage. "When yo come to the dojo, cut off your head and leave it outside," is something Sensei used to say often to us.
In order to learn anything we need to have the openness and willingness to learn and this cannot be done when your cup is full. Please empty your cup before you come to practice so that you can make room for so much more.
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Day 2 "Let someone off the hook" update: Day 2 went as expected. Finding 2 things or people to let off the hook wasn't that hard. Driving always yields a lot of opportunities. The second one came in the form of letting an old acquaintance off the hook for misrepresenting himself. This one took effort and I hope it lasts.
Day 3: 1+2 = 3. Now let 3 people off the hook.