Cambridge University Buddhist Society Wise Wednesday

Event: Cambridge University Buddhist Society Wise Wednesday
Date: 18 November 2020
Time: 20:00 – 22:00 GMT
The topic of sharing: Finding and Feeling Joy
Speaker: Venerable Chang Wu
Summarised by: London Branch (London Chan Meditation) on 22 November 2020

Summary:
Cambridge University Buddhist Society (CUBS) is the only study society of Cambridge University related to Buddhism and is one of the major Buddhist groups in Cambridge city.  During term time, they organise meditation & sharing sessions on Wednesday, talks on weekend, and ad-hoc social sessions. They invite Dharma teachers, practitioners, and scholars in various traditions in Buddhism to share learnings with their society members.

Venerable Chang Wu was invited to join one of the society Wise Wednesday sessions on 18 November 2020. There were about 45 people attended, including a number of practitioners from DDM Vancouver Centre, DDM London Branch (London Chan Meditation), and Frankfurt group. Theme of the night is “Finding and Feeling Joy.” The session started with the introduction of Ven. Chang Wu from Christoph, the Chairman of CUBS. Ven. Chang Wu guided a sitting meditation session lasting about 20 minutes with her gentle voice. It was perfectly suited for those whom start to learn meditation.

After the sitting, Ven. Change Wu wisely asked everyone: “Did you feel a sense of joy during meditation? ” A few people smiled. Ven. Chang Wu then started the lecture with defining “happiness” and “joy”, and explaining their differences. It was very useful to set the context and the scope of the sharing, an approach well suited for university students and teachers.
Ven. Chang Wu also used a few real-life examples to help everyone to relate to and to understand the nature of joy.

The main part of the lecture focuses on the concept of “connectedness”. Ven. Chang Wu explained that joy will naturally arise when three types of relationships/connections are harmonised: 1) between our body and mind; 2) between ourself and others; 3) between ourself and environment. In fact, joy will arise within oneself first, then spread wider to include other people and environment. Only when joy arises within one’s heart and one’s
mind, will it be true and long-lasting.

To harmonize our body and mind is to tune in our mind with our body first. Ven. Chang Wu clearly pointed out that our mind is not always with our body. Most of the time in our everyday life they are not together. We don’t really know how our body feels or experiences. We often live in our narratives and mental constructs which are illusion. This causes lots of conflicts, anxiety, disappointment, simply because what we see and believe is different from reality.  The point of connecting our mind with our body is to collect our thoughts, relax the body and become aware of our thoughts, speech and actions. In this way we not only develop harmony between our mind and body, but also help dissolving conflicts, tension and anxiety
within. Then, joy will naturally arise.

Ven. Change Wu talked about how modern society has shaped our attitude towards others.  Due to the reward mechanism in our world that is driven by both capitalism and technology, we tend to see many people as competitors or enemies. This distorted view causes tremendous challenges toward our relationships with others. In addition, our society and culture merit “independency” in human value, and that mislead us to believe that we are independent. But, in fact we depend on others, from our birth to death, to live our life.  Without others we will not possibly be alive. We shall learn to see things as they are and recognise this connected relationship with others. We are interconnected, whether you like it or not. Moreover, we will engage others better when our body and mind are at peace and
open. Then, she briefly talked about our relationship with the environment and the nature to close off the lecture.

After the lecture, Ven. Chang Wu answered a few questions from the attendances that relates to 1) how to work with someone we don’t like; 2) how to be focused when listening to others; 3) how to understand the connectedness with someone who passes away or no longer with us; 3) how to deal with emotional unease during meditation. The answers were
practical and direct to the point. Although it has past the time, at the request of the host, Ven. Chang Wu led another session of metta contemplation to end the night. It was indeed a pleasant gathering of joy .

Written by London Chan Meditation