Learning is Coming Empty

A well traveled, enlightened young man approached Suzuki, a Zen Buddhist teacher, to be his student. He knew a lot and made that clear to anyone that came across him. Suzuki's school ran a four year program and the first year consisted of menial duties and serving the senior classes. At the end of the first year, the young man's peers were moved to the next class while he was left behind. Same thing happened at the end of his second year.
When the young man had been made to repeat the first year class twice and serve both his peers and former subordinates, he marched angrily to confront Suzuki. "Those I began with have gone ahead of me while I am making no progress", he cried.
Suzuki quietly told him to fill his cup with tea. The agitated young man obeyed. He stopped when the teacup got full but Suzuki told him to continue pouring. The tea spilled to the table and onto the floor. He felt stupid after a while and stopped pouring. So, Suzuki said, " You are like this teacup - so full of knowledge, you can't learn from anyone else. Till you learn to empty your cup, no one can add anything to you".
Obviously, you know a lot or you wouldn't have progressed this far but, there is always a fresh knowledge for the next level. Learning is about coming with an open mind. People with an "I know it all mentality" never learn from others and so, restrict their own progress. We would grow more quickly in life if we'd embrace this attitude towards learning and come empty.