No Identity

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912) received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.  Nan-in served tea. H e poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. 

The professor watched the cup overflow until he could not longer restrain himself.  “It’s too full. No more will go in!” 

“Like this cup,” Nan-in replied, “you are too full.  Empty your cup!”

 

While discussing our identities as teachers in one of my seminars, I found myself answering many of the questions in a passive manner, almost non-answers.  I do not have a role model for a good classroom teacher, so that I can better find my own way to teach; I do not claim to know when I know something so that I am always open to correction; I do not have a picture of a good learner in my mind so that I don’t limit other students who do not fit my picture.  It seems a negative or contradictory way of dealing with these interesting questions and I feel the need to clarify.

 

The Japanese have a concept called Mu, which means “emptiness.”  It is used in Zen Buddhism to express ideas such as “no self,” “no ego,” “no permanence,” and so on.  At any rate, the concept behind Mu is to become empty of self, allowing you to actively take in whatever circumstances might come along without any concept of self-identity or ego to get in the way.

 

The thing about identity is that it inherently creates division; the more unique you try to be, the more differences you create between yourself and those around you.  It is only through division that one gains an individual identity.

 

I guess I’m on a journey to experience Mu, to transcend the dualistic distinctions between good and evil, gain and loss, self and other.  This may be largely a spiritual or mystical journey, but it also has practical value – if I seek to have “no self,” there will be nothing to stop me from accepting everyone without judgment; if I seek to have “no ego,” I will not attempt to impose my ideals on others.

 

As teachers, we are commanded to teach specific content to our students, and I intend to do so.  But first and foremost, my responsibility is not to teach content but to empower minds, showing students not what to think but how to think, to help them realize their own potential, to teach them how to inquire into and clarify themselves.  I do not shape my students; I empower them to take the shape they were meant to take.  And to do this, I cannot judge; I must allow them the freedom to become fully themselves, even if what they are destined to become is different from my concept of ideal.

 

I must have no identity so that my students can find theirs.