In the movie Forbidden
Kingdom, starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, a young boy nags Chan about all
the legendary Kung Fu moves that he wants to learn. Annoyed, Jackie Chan begins
to fill the cup in the boy’s hands with hot water to the point of overflow.
With burning hands from the spilling water, the boy urges Chan to stop, telling
him that his cup is already full. To this, Jackie Chan responds, “exactly, how can your cup be filled if it
is already full?”
How can your cup be filled if it is already full? It
can’t. It must first be emptied. The young boy needed to forget about all those
fancy moves he had heard about and seen and practiced in the mirror as a kid,
and he had to be willing to learn from scratch. Then and only then, could the
young boy move forward and learn the art of Kung Fu.
