A Zen master overfills a visitor’s teacup to show that a mind already full has no space to receive. The problem is not knowing too much, but being unable to listen. Emptying the cup is not a single insight but an ongoing practice: noticing when we’ve stopped listening and allowing a small pause to create space. Have a cup of tea. Have another one.
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This blog post explores Tao Te Ching Chapter 11 and its core idea that emptiness enables function, a house is useful not because of its walls, but because of the space they enclose. Drawing from Stephen Mitchell’s translation, it highlights how absence, not presence, often provides true utility. This Taoist insight is linked to earlier Zen koans I’ve written about, showing how clarity, usefulness, and forgiveness all emerge from what is deliberately left open or let go. The piece argues that value lies not just in what we build, but in the space we leave for things to work.
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Modern Koan from Dune of “Fear Is the Mind-Killer” is not a Zen story, nor is it a koan in the traditional sense. There’s no paradox or puzzle to unravel. But it carries the same contemplative weight. Spoken by Paul Atreides as part of the Bene Gesserit litany, it is a mantra about fear, presence, and the self that remains. Like a koan, it doesn’t resolve the moment; it holds us within it.
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The Zen Koan of the Two Monks and the Woman is a well-known story that invites reflection on the nature of judgment, letting go, and the burdens we choose to carry.
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The Zen Koan of the Tigers and the Strawberry is a classic story that invites reflection on mindfulness and presence.
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