The Horizon · A Zen teaching story
A professor visited the Zen teacher Nan-in, hoping to learn about Zen.
Nan-in welcomed him with tea.
He filled the professor’s cup, but did not stop pouring.
Tea spilled over the rim.
The professor protested: there was no room for any more.
Nan-in pointed to the cup.
A mind already crowded with its own answers, he explained, leaves little space for a new understanding.
Before receiving more, the visitor would need to make room.
A professor visited the Zen teacher Nan-in, hoping to learn about Zen.
Nan-in welcomed him with tea.
He filled the professor’s cup, but did not stop pouring.
Tea spilled over the rim.
The professor protested: there was no room for any more.
Nan-in pointed to the cup.
A mind already crowded with its own answers, he explained, leaves little space for a new understanding.
Before receiving more, the visitor would need to make room.
An Alrewaq retelling of A Cup of Tea, a teaching story associated with Nan-in and the collection 101 Zen Stories by Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps. It is presented as a teaching tale, not a verified historical encounter. The wording is an adaptation rather than a quotation from a translation. The artwork belongs to Alrewaq’s imagined landscape.