Thoughts to You from Yours Truly - ( TYYT ) - ( 85 ) - The Virtue of Humility
It appears to me that the virtue of humility has a lot to do with building up the students' self confidence. Always being humble regardless of the circumstances is counter productive insofar as it erodes one's confidence. When students are certain that they are right on particular issues they should be encouraged to express their points politely but forcefully. This will build up their confidence in sticking to their own principles. That is why the extracurricular activity of debating is a very good way of training in logical thinking and articulate verbal ability. I was once a member of the school debating team and I did enjoy the experience very much. On the other hand, humility comes in when the students should always be reminded of their proper place in life and society and ultimately the whole universe when they mature. The point that no one is all powerful and indispensable must be hit home in the students' mind. Similar to dealing with failure, students should be taught not to lose their head in excitement, pride and over-confidence with themselves in their successes as pride goes before a fall. Again, no one is invincible.
Let me tell you a very subtle tale told by a great Japanese master in Zen philosophy. There was once a very clever young man who heard of an old and wise Zen master from whom the young man wants to learn more wisdom. So, the young man paid a visit to the Zen master's humble dwellings. Upon entering the the entrance the young man was asked to crawl through a very low gate as a symbol of humility to access the study where the Zen master practised his meditation. After they were seated on the straw mattress, the old master performed tea ceremony and poured some tea into a cup held in the hand of the young man. He was specifically asked by the old master to pay attention to the tea pouring procedure so that he might learn something. As instructed, the young watched the cup slowly filling up with tea but he noticed that the old master continued to pour tea into the cup even after it was full and overflowing. He could not stand the pain of the hot tea burning the skin of his hand and let go of the cup which subsequently shattered to pieces on the floor. Without apologizing for his clumsiness, the old master asked the young man to leave. He was astonished by the rudeness and protested about the pain caused him by the old master. In the young man's mind, he felt cheated by the old master's claimed reputation of being a wise philosopher. He thought that the Zen master was nothing but a useless and clumsy old fool. So, the young man demanded that he be given some advice by the old master before he would leave him in a move to try to embarrass the old master and to discredit his reputation. Whereupon, the Zen master spoke in a slow but self- assured tone of voice :- “ I had already given you some excellent advice only you were too preoccupied with your own ego and complacency to have missed it. “ But the young man retorted that the Zen master was nothing more than a sham and his remarks were a poor disguise of the old master's total ignorance of any Zen philosophy. Without being upset in anyway, the old master said :- “ If your cup of thoughts is already full, how can you acquire any more knowledge to enrich your wisdom further ? “ The young man realized there and then that the whole scenario was an elaborate lesson to teach him humility. He felt so ashamed of his own arrogant attitude that he knelt down in front of the old Zen master in great humility to beg for his forgiveness. He was subsequently accepted by the old Zen master to be his follower and became an accomplished Zen philosopher himself in due course. There you have it. The little tale I have just told you is known as a Koan in Zen terminology which is similar in nature and purpose to the parables of the New Testsment of the Bible. It is really a telling episode.
It appears to me that the virtue of humility has a lot to do with building up the students' self confidence. Always being humble regardless of the circumstances is counter productive insofar as it erodes one's confidence. When students are certain that they are right on particular issues they should be encouraged to express their points politely but forcefully. This will build up their confidence in sticking to their own principles. That is why the extracurricular activity of debating is a very good way of training in logical thinking and articulate verbal ability. I was once a member of the school debating team and I did enjoy the experience very much. On the other hand, humility comes in when the students should always be reminded of their proper place in life and society and ultimately the whole universe when they mature. The point that no one is all powerful and indispensable must be hit home in the students' mind. Similar to dealing with failure, students should be taught not to lose their head in excitement, pride and over-confidence with themselves in their successes as pride goes before a fall. Again, no one is invincible.
Let me tell you a very subtle tale told by a great Japanese master in Zen philosophy. There was once a very clever young man who heard of an old and wise Zen master from whom the young man wants to learn more wisdom. So, the young man paid a visit to the Zen master's humble dwellings. Upon entering the the entrance the young man was asked to crawl through a very low gate as a symbol of humility to access the study where the Zen master practised his meditation. After they were seated on the straw mattress, the old master performed tea ceremony and poured some tea into a cup held in the hand of the young man. He was specifically asked by the old master to pay attention to the tea pouring procedure so that he might learn something. As instructed, the young watched the cup slowly filling up with tea but he noticed that the old master continued to pour tea into the cup even after it was full and overflowing. He could not stand the pain of the hot tea burning the skin of his hand and let go of the cup which subsequently shattered to pieces on the floor. Without apologizing for his clumsiness, the old master asked the young man to leave. He was astonished by the rudeness and protested about the pain caused him by the old master. In the young man's mind, he felt cheated by the old master's claimed reputation of being a wise philosopher. He thought that the Zen master was nothing but a useless and clumsy old fool. So, the young man demanded that he be given some advice by the old master before he would leave him in a move to try to embarrass the old master and to discredit his reputation. Whereupon, the Zen master spoke in a slow but self- assured tone of voice :- “ I had already given you some excellent advice only you were too preoccupied with your own ego and complacency to have missed it. “ But the young man retorted that the Zen master was nothing more than a sham and his remarks were a poor disguise of the old master's total ignorance of any Zen philosophy. Without being upset in anyway, the old master said :- “ If your cup of thoughts is already full, how can you acquire any more knowledge to enrich your wisdom further ? “ The young man realized there and then that the whole scenario was an elaborate lesson to teach him humility. He felt so ashamed of his own arrogant attitude that he knelt down in front of the old Zen master in great humility to beg for his forgiveness. He was subsequently accepted by the old Zen master to be his follower and became an accomplished Zen philosopher himself in due course. There you have it. The little tale I have just told you is known as a Koan in Zen terminology which is similar in nature and purpose to the parables of the New Testsment of the Bible. It is really a telling episode.
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