Empty your cup?

Pictured: This ancient drinking toy is called a Gong Dao Bei, it was used to control the amount of alcohol that could enter one’s cup. If it was filled too high, the dragon would descend into a hole in the bottom and stop liquor from pouring out. Don’t be greedy!!

持而盈之，

Chi Er Ying Zhi:

“Grasping it as it overflows,

不如其已

Bu Ru Qi Yi:

is not as good as stopping (before it overflows).”

The modern interpretation of this passage is that when a vessel is being filled, it is better not to continue filling it until it overflows, but instead stopping when it is sufficiently full.

In ancient times the Chinese elite used to employ a device called an equality cup (Gong Dao Bei) when drinking alcohol in order to stop people from taking too much.

The cup was made of celedon and had a sculpted dragon head inside which had a hole under it.

If the alcohol was poured slowly and the cup did not fill completely, the alcohol would drain from the bottom of the Gong Dao Bei into the cup of the person wishing to drink, but if it was filled too high, the dragon head would descend into the cup, blocking the hole and preventing the alcohol from coming out.

This tool while being fun is also a lesson to enjoy good things in moderation and the fact that overfilling the Gong Dao Bei would prevent the drinking from getting alcohol is a lesson that being greedy can interfere with the pleasant enjoyment of our lives.

This concept is very similar to another concept in the Dao De Jing:

知足之足，

“Zhi Zu Zhi Zu:

Knowing how much is sufficient,

常足矣

Chang Zu Yi:

Will allow there always to be sufficiency.”

There are so many parts of life to which this principle could be applied, but as Confucius said:

舉 一 隅 不 以 三 隅 反 ， 則 不 復 也 ．

“If I lift up one corner and the student does not lift up the other three, I will not repeat the lesson.”