FRIDAY,MARCH 28.2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
University group practices Buddhism weekly
By Cal Creek
ccreek@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Students who practice or are interested in Buddhism can attend a series of weekly meetings in which members of the University of Kansas Amitabha Buddhist Association practice chants in a collective setting.
Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha. They follow four noble truths: all of life is suffering, suffering is caused by craving, to end suffering and craving and to follow the middle path. Chanting and meditation is an integral part of the faith.
"By chanting we can calm down," said Feilun Chen, Central Taiwan graduate student. "This is like praying in Christian."
The KU Buddhist Association meets at 7:30 every Friday night at room 4007 in Wescoe Hall to practice chanting for two hours. At 8:30 a.m. on Saturdays, they meet to chant and read the Sutra, or the teachings of Buddha, for three and half hours.
"There's a simple procedure, we mainly chant. We chant the name of Buddha, followed by reading the Sutra," said Cheng-Shan Liu, Buddhist Association president and Taipei, Taiwan graduate student.
"There's a simple procedure, we mainly chant. We chant the name of Buddha, followed by reading the Sutra."
Cheng-Shan Liu Buddhist Association president
After chanting, members discuss what they read in the Sutra.
"Every time you read it, it has new meanings." Liu said.
Later on Saturday, the group meets again to listen to a lecture from Buddhist master, Chin Kung, collected on a series of compact discs.
Liu said regular members go to the practices to show others that they are practicing and to encourage others to continue their practices.
When the group meets to chant, members place a picture of Buddha at the front of the room. Each member of the association bows to Buddha as if to say hello to the teacher. Men then sit to the right of the picture while women sit to the left. Both sides face each other with a path in the middle. They then chant a name for Buddha, "Amitofo."
After about an hour the group takes a break, then continues with the practice. When the practice is over, all members bow to the picture of Buddha again.
Members of the association say they have benefited from the chant practices in different ways.
"I feel I've become smarter, I can calm down easy," Chen said.
Tao Hong, Shandong, China, graduate student, said she could learn two things from the practices: Who she is and what the relation is between her and the environment.
As the weather gets warmer, the Buddhist Association will add another practice to its weekly regiment. On Saturday mornings, the group will buy fish and crickets from local pet stores to set free into lakes and fields, respectively.
"They don't know human language," Liu said. "Their thankfulness will be detected by the heavens. Good luck will go back, sent to the people who do this."
When members set the animals free, they chant to open their minds and wish the animals well.
Liu said those interested in Buddhism could attend the practices or visit the association's Web site at www.ku.edu/-amtb.
"We are an open society," Liu said. "We meet together to give everybody a chance to join."
— Edited by Amber Byarlay
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Members of the Amitabha Buddhist Association remove shoes before chanting. The group gathered at 7:30 Friday night at room 4007 in Wescoe Hall to meditate.
National Video Game League located in Olathe
Bv Nicole Roché
By Nicole Roche
nroche@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
It might be the newest team sport, but players don't necessarily have to be in the same room. Guns and grenades are involved, too, but no one gets injured.
That's because the game is Halo, a firstperson shooting game released for Microsoft's Xbox in 2001.
“It’s kind of like a sport,” said Thomas Cooper, Bonner Springs sophomore and Halo junkie. “But it’s not like, 'I lost a game — I'm going to lose the season.'”
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Cooper and other students travel to a gaming center in Olathe, known as the National Video Gaming League, to play repeated rounds of the popular game.
Inside, the gaming center resembles a cross between an arcade and your parents' living room. Black high-backed bean bag chairs, facing eight 50 inch high definition televisions, line the room.
It's fitting that most gamers refer to the center as NVGL - Cooper said most gamers didn't use each others' real names at the center, but rather code names.
Cooper's code name is Dragon.
Wichita junior Kevin Augspurger and Andale junior Cody Gorges play Halo to hone their skills for an upcoming video game tournament. The tournaments,which are at least once a month, offer winning teams cash prizes.
"I guess I've always liked mythology. Cooper said to explain the origins of his code name.
ing guy," although he would patiently correct those who are new to the code name system
Cooper said he wasn't "that obsessive gam-
"By the way, it's not 'The Dragon,' just 'Dragon,'" he said.
Cooper is teaming up with Special K, a Manhattan gamer he met at NVGL, for a Halo tournament tomorrow.
The winning team will advance to a regional tournament. An upcoming national tournament in Atlanta pays $50,000 to the winner.
NVGL, located at 12013 S. Strangline Road., is a place for gamers to meet and compete, said Tim Bourassa of Olathe, who started the center 10 months ago.
"Playing your computer is no longer fun, because eventually you start picking up on patterns." Bourassa said. "But people are completely unpredictable."
Gamers pay $7 an hour or $21 a night and can play more than 200 Xbox games the center owns. The center is open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and until midnight on weekends. NVGL is closed on Mondays.
xBox is the only console available for play at NVGL. Bourassa said, because he thought it was hands-down the best system on the market. NVGL can accommodate 32 Halo players simultaneously using Xbox Live, a program that links Xboxes through the Internet.
Cody Gorges, Andale junior, first made the trek to NVGL in August. Despite limited success in tournament play, Gorges said he traveled to the center for the close player interaction.
Bourassa said he had no immediate plans to open a satellite store in Lawrence, although frequent gamers from the Lawrence area had prompted discussion of the idea.
Meanwhile, loyal gamers continue to make the forty-minute drive to Olathe.
Kevin Augspurger, Wichita junior, may be Dragon's greatest rival. The two will have the opportunity to play each other in tomorrow's competition. Augspurger is practicing with his team member, his brother Derrick from Wichita, for tomorrow's tournament.
"His code name is Heavy D because everyone calls him D," Augspurger said. "And he's a big guy."
Augspurger said he was confident his team would perform well, and he wasn't intimidated by Dragon.
"He's not the person to beat, but he's one of them," he said. "And he's not 'The Dragon'—it's just 'Dragon.'"
Edited by Todd Rapp
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