Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Each day begins and ends with this chant for Yu Hui Lui. This chant means Lui gives himself up to the law of cause and effect.

Lui, graduate student in mechanical engineering, began practicing Nichiren Buddhism while living in Malaysia. After transferring to Iowa State three and a half years ago, Lui said he quickly began searching for ways to stay involved with his religion.

In order to continue practicing his religion with other students, Lui said he reached out to a Buddhist organization called Soka Gakkai International.

“As an international student being in a foreign place, you face a lot of obstacles or things that are new to you,” Lui said. “If you have a religion to practice, no matter where you are, it can really help you feel more comfortable.”

Nichiren Buddhism began in 13th century Japan with a Buddhist reformer and is practiced to establish lives of absolute happiness and peace, according to the Soka Gakkai International website.

Despite finding other students to chant and practice Buddhism with, Lui said the group still did not have a place to meet. This issue was what drove Lui to organize the group and officially register it to become a club on campus.

“We had thought about [registering the group], but we didn’t do it because I had just arrived here, and I didn’t have the courage yet,” Lui said. “Now I thought it was time to start promoting peace through our community and at ISU.”

The group officially registered in October 2015 and is now known as Buddhism for Peace. Lui is the president of the club, which now meets every Thursday in MacKay Hall.

I try to bring study material so we can look at Buddhist concepts or find relevant things to discuss, Lui said.

For Hubert Yi-Liang Ooi, sophomore in mechanical engineering, moving away from his home in Malaysia became the perfect time to get more involved with his religion.

As an only child, Ooi said his mother was the one who urged him to get involved with the Buddhism club on campus.

“Back in Malaysia, I wasn’t that into Buddhism, but when I came here, I realized I do need to get involved in certain things that I was familiar with,” Ooi said.

By getting involved with several international groups on campus, Ooi said he feels much more at home.

Buddhism for Peace currently has six members who go to meetings regularly. Lui said that while Ames could have more diverse religious groups, creating his own group has provided its own benefits.

“Here I am more active and more involved,” Lui said. “Back at home we have a lot of seniors and other people organizing the meetings, but now I am the person that has to do that. It’s helped me to grow a lot.”

Giving guidance 

For Silas Pippitt, diversity and retention coordinator at the International Students and Scholars Office, guiding these international students through their first few weeks on campus and answering their questions is a big part of his job.

During the fall 2015 semester, 4,041 international students were enrolled at Iowa State, making up for 11 percent of total students, according to enrollment statistics from the Office of the Registrar.

“Typically, what we do is suggest to student clubs on campus that are associated with their religious beliefs,” Pippitt said. “The students that I’ve talked to about this have said that they found good groups to belong to and feel that as far as organizations are concerned, they have a lot of opportunities.”

Despite this, Pippitt said meeting students’ needs is certainly an ongoing process.

As part of his job, Timothy Tesar, assistant director of international admissions, sometimes must help international students find resources when it comes to finding a place to worship.

Tesar said the Admissions Office often works closely with the ISSO to help ease the transition of living in Ames for new international students.

“It’s not like we’re in Midtown Manhattan, where there’s a different faith every block, but I think the nice thing is that between Story and Polk County, there’s pretty much everything covered, so students wouldn’t have to go further than 30 minutes to find most denominations or religions,” Tesar said.

Despite having many options for those of Christian faith, Tesar said that the Ames and ISU community still provides many students with a diverse range of religious options, especially through clubs and organizations.

“In my time here, I’ve yet to have a student say that they haven’t had an option or didn’t feel welcome or they couldn’t find a place to belong,” Tesar said.

Finding time and place

The fourth floor of the library meets all of the qualifications — quiet, empty and private.

This is one of the few spots that Che Ariffin Che Aris, sophomore in chemical engineering, has found on campus that provides him with a safe spot to pray.

As a Muslim, Aris prays five times a day and often must find places to pray between classes, which he said can often be hard to come by.

When praying out in public, Aris said other students often have many questions to ask.

“For a male person like me, [finding spaces] is not as hard,” Aris said. “We just try to find places where people don’t walk by a lot so we don’t block anyone. For the ladies, it’s a bit harder to cover themselves. They usually need to find a closed room or a private space to pray, and that’s the kind of thing we are lacking here at Iowa State.”

Despite having an Islamic Center in Ames, Aris said Muslims, along with other student clubs and organizations, often lack a physical space on campus to use for religious activities.

Aside from the library, Aris said many students he knows often use the Multicultural Center in the Memorial Union as a place to pray in quiet.

“I think it would be good for the university to create a worship room or a prayer room,” Aris said. “It doesn’t just have to be for one religion. To have a place for each religion would take a lot of space, but just one space for anyone to come in and worship their god would be a good thing.”

But for Nattha Tritrakoolsin, sophomore in chemical engineering, finding time to pray while juggling school has been the hardest task.

“I try to pray before I go to bed,” Tritrakoolsin said. “But sometimes I don’t even get to sleep or you go to bed so late that you don’t want to do anything else, so it’s really hard.”

As a Thai Buddhist, Tritrakoolsin said she only goes to temple for special occasions, such as her birthday or New Year’s Eve. To do so, Tritrakoolsin said she must travel to Des Moines.

Before coming to Iowa State, Tritrakoolsin was an exchange student at a high school in Ohio during her senior year. During that time, Tritrakoolsin lived with a Catholic host family.

Tritrakoolsin said the family wanted to give her as many experiences as possible and took her to church for holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

Unlike her Catholic host family, she said as a Buddhist, there is no need for a physical space in order for her to worship.

During times of transition or high stress, Tritrakoolsin said she finds the Buddhist practice of meditation to be helpful and would like to see even more promotion of activities like meditation on campus.

However, in terms of big changes, Aris said creating more spaces for students to worship could make a large number of students feel more included and welcome.

“From what I’ve seen, the university administration is trying to make the campus more diverse and inclusive, so [worship rooms] are just one more step to bringing us closer to what students have in mind,” Aris said.