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In describing the learning process, the Buddhist teachings make use of the metaphor of the cup. Four types of cup symbolize four kinds of students.
Instruction is symbolized by water being poured into the cup.

The first cup is upside down. This represents a student who is supposedly there to learn, but pays no attention. You may have experienced something similar while reading a book; your eyes move across the words all the way down the page, but when you get to the bottom, you realize you where daydreaming and have no idea what you read. That’s what happens when a cup is turned upside down. No matter how much is poured, nothing gets in.

The second cup is right side up, but has a hole in the bottom. We hear whats being taught, but we forget it all too soon. We don’t chew on it and digest it and take it to heart. For example, we might attend a training, and when we get home, he asked “what did they teach” and we say “hm, well it was….actually i don’t remember?” This is the classic case of “in one ear and out the other.”

The third cup is right side up and doesn’t have a hole in it, but the inside is covered with dirt. When the clear water of instruction is poured in, the dirt makes it cloudy. This symbolizes the way we can distort what we hear, interpeting and editing it to fit into our preconceived ideas or opinions. Nothing new is actually learned. When we take a lesson, if the instruction matches how we already see things, it is taken as confirmation. Anything new that doesn’t match our opinions is resisted, ignored or disregarded.

The fouth cup represents the ideal way to be a student. It is upright, receiving what is taught, it has no holes and retaining what is taught. It is clear, open to learning something new. To whatever extent you can be like the fourth cup.

Which cup were you while reading this?

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