Metaphors (Empty Cup)

Metaphors abound in Asian martial arts. Here is how one goes, the empty cup:

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. 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?"

The metaphors in martial arts are teaching tools toward a, more or less, philosophical view of its practices and applications. They are meant to guide the practitioner toward a morally just application of the arts. In modern times this is extremely important because when applying martial arts in a self-defense situation leads to ramifications far beyond merely learning how to “perform” kata, etc. It is about morally and socially applying potentially deadly techniques that will either lead to great bodily harm or possible death while remaining within the socially driven force requirements that would keep the practitioner within the confines of self-defense law. 

I look at most metaphors as symbolic Zen like koans that one contemplates with the physical process of practice. It is meant to tie the mind to the body in creating the spirit of a martial artists, it gives the practitioner the kind of hear that keeps them steering straight and true. When studied the practitioner should discover from their own perspectives and perceptions how it represents some ideal or ideology acceptable to the social morals that govern and keep society safe and secure toward the goal of survival 

It provides an abstraction that forces thinking, contemplation and consideration for its application and that type of out of the box thinking leads toward the often lost understanding that application of martial prowess must be applied within a certain standard of practice that remains morally just and right not just for the individual but for everyone. 

As can be derived from the study of the empty cup, one must be able to release and empty egoistic pride filled emotional junk allowing a more logically emotionally free human mind to see, hear and feel realty in a form that allows proper handling of conflict and violence.