Dancing
"See you at the Porters Lodge in 5 minutes..." I put down the phone and off we went to Club Salsa. Angie, Jen and I for the first time, went to club together. This is a slightly different club. As you can tell from the name - SALSA. We are actually in the same salsa class and they wanted to have a look at the club.
It was Saturday night, i actually got a discount for entering the club as I am part of the Hispanic Society. Sounds cool isn't it? We were anticipating salsa music but felt weird because obviously it was not salsa music. We later found out that Saturday night is latin night. So, they will play a mixture of latino music. There were a lot of merengue. I still have problems differentiating them most of the time. Being a newbie, i had no choice but to watch and learn. The key I think, is just to dance to the music after that.
Merengue, with simpler basics compared to salsa, has got some similarities with salsa, especially the twisting and turning. I used whatever I have learnt in salsa and tried to apply it right on the dance floor. I hope Jen and Angie didn't mind being guinea pig for the night. But they did enjoy it I guess. To me, I don't think there is any music so far which is so danceable as latino music. I do not seem to enjoy in other clubs that much with all the cheesy, rock, and RnB music. Although RnB is still alright for me. My muscles are starting to 'listen' to music...
I love dancing!
Prayer at the Chapel
I volunteered to read the Bible in the my college's chapel after suggested by our dean of chapel, Reverend Christopher Whithall. There were only two of us in the quiet chapel, the dean and me. It began with saying of praises to the Lord. In the middle, it was my turn to read parts of the Bible. I was asked to read Ezekiel 28: 1-19 and John 13: 1-11. After that, we did a few more verses of praises. I actually like the effect of the chapel when our voices echo the within the chapel space.
The most beautiful part of all is still the prayer after all the praises and reading. It was the same feeling when I did group metta in buddhist temple. The boundless love is powerful. The vibration stimulates the tear glands, induces the opening of our hearts. I think this is something to learn from our Christian friends. They do more direct prayers than Buddhist groups do. I am also suspecting that the words and sentences used in Christian prayers create direct effects. It might be the translation of the Pali language to English causing the slight loss of metta effect for lay people who have yet got to the high level of cultivation of metta.
"We pray for the person who is now reading this post, let him or her find peace and happiness." (Christian prayer)
"May the person who reads this post be well, peaceful and happy" (Buddhist metta meditation thoughts)
Above are examples of the way the two groups of people would normally structure the sentences in their prayers. I think Buddhists might need to learn quite a bit from the Christians.
From this prayer session, I understand even more what is meant by love of God which has always been the driving force for all Christians to have faith in Him. I was actually questioned as to why I, who is not a Christian (but a Buddhist instead) would be willing to do Bible reading and Christian prayers. I said it is because I am a Buddhist, I should go for it. It is because I am a Buddhist, I should pray (metta) for other people whether it is in a church or a buddhist monastery. I do not see the difference.
Buddhist Circle
One of the core activities that I am going to get involved in--Buddhist Circle has sprung into a new chapter. With the new logo, new website layout, and new theme ( A whole new experience ) of the Cambridge University Buddhist Society, we are all enthusiastic about this year's activities. After a short film on Life of The Buddha, the discussion went on with a surprisingly high level start. The new members offered their experiences which are tied to their philosophical ideas. I was afraid that the old members get intimidated by the heavy stuff because most of them seem to be a little quiet.
I am not having the intention to draw the border between asians and westerners, but we cannot ignore that there is a difference in the way they act in the discussion today or in daily life in general. The feeling of today's discussion is just different from previous discussions that we had last term. I am not sure whether it is because that there are newcomers or is it because that is the way westerners do in discussions. Previous discussions are more like discussion amongst a group of close friends. Today's discussion is inspiring and interesting but the sense of closeness was not really felt.
Rachael, our senior treasurer mentioned that she could just feel the difference when it is a group of asians carrying out that discussion. She said that there is just a kind of feeling which I guess it the closeness that Asians bring. But westerners have not learnt this as she said, they each come for themselves. For example, my meditation, my philosophy etc. On the other hand, Asians are less able to convey and share one's thought sometimes. The intriguing discussion couldn't have happened if the group consists of asians only. I guess we have got things to learn from each other.
This leads to an article which came out in the Varsity newspaper today with the title "UK universities failed to integrate foreign students". I was actually interviewed about this issue by Varsity and expressed my views that foreign students really find it hard to integrate with the British. It might be due to British being unaware of the uneasiness of foreign students in mixing around with them. It could be partly due to British students just do not bother to understand us or just simply not that interested. Internationals here also have the responsibility perhaps. We do not take the first step to explain our situation and to reach out and say: We need help.
I really hope that the members from different culture and background in the Buddhist Circle can break through this cultural barrier and form the close-knit environment again. It is a challenge which I am willing to take because I do not want Buddhist groups to be fragmented according the regions and cultures. Because come to think of it, we, whether from the East or the West, are not that much different. We look for the same thing and suffer from pretty much the same problems.
