Buddhist Nun Leads Meditation

A Buddhist nun from an Oklahoma City monastery on Saturday said karma and causality affect reincarnation and how one acts in this life may determine the circumstances of future lives.

“You are the main cause of your own fate,” Master Jiane said.

She spoke for the third time at Oklahoma State University in a series of lectures sponsored by the Buddhist Association of OSU.

About 20 people attended the lecture. A guided meditation that focused on compassion and repenting wrongdoing toward others preceded the speech.

People can understand and practice Buddhism better if they understand good and bad karma, also known as white and black karma, Jiane said.

Karma is often misinterpreted as a consequence, but it is a cause. Karma can be good, bad or neutral, depending on the intention and result of the cause, Jiane said.

“It you benefit someone, if you bring a result of happiness or joy, that is good karma,” she said.

Bad karma involves bringing unhappiness or harming someone, she said.

People who act poorly may not suffer the consequences in this life, but they will eventually because of causality, which is basically cause and effect. People cannot change causality, but they can change their attitude toward it, Jiane said.

She told the story of a man who went to a fortune teller who told him he would die at 47. The man was upset and went to get a second opinion from another fortune teller. The second fortune teller told him the same thing.

The man didn’t believe that was possible, so he began to study fortune telling. He became increasingly unhappy as he came up with the same prediction about his life. The man decided to stop fighting the prediction and instead enjoy the years left. He decided to cherish his time by giving to charities and getting along with his family and friends better.

The man realized as he lived into his 50s that the fortune tellers were not wrong, but his new way of living had given him a better outcome.

“You can change the quality of your own life,” Jiane said. “If you want to be rich, you practice generosity. If you want to be happy, you help others and be kind.”

Jiane said people need to analyze the situations in which they find themselves to understand karma because different conditions give different results.

“You need to know the reason that leads you to pain or suffering,” Jiane said. “If you are very grateful every day, if you are content with what you have, you will live a meaningful life.”

Kiem Ta, an OSU librarian who attended the event, said she considers herself a Buddhist, but she is always learning more about it and practicing what she learns.

“Buddhism is not just listening and learning,” she said. “You have to do it.”

Jiane’s lectures are beneficial because they condense vast and complex Buddhist philosophies into a speech of manageable time, said Asma Ahmed, president of the Buddhist Association of OSU and a chemical engineering graduate student.

Before her speech, Jiane led the crowd in a 30-minute meditation session. She sat cross-legged in a chair with her eyes closed and told the crowd to think about people they know. She told them to divide these people into categories by age and by whether they are friends, foes or strangers.

She instructed attendees to repent their wrongdoings against these people and hope for them to lead happy and strong lives.

“We all have done some wrong before, but this is the time for you to be mindful, for you to be strong, for you to be compassionate,” Jiane said.

The Buddhist Association of OSU will show a video about impermanence Nov. 2, and Jiane will lead another meditation session and speak about applying Buddhist teachings in daily life Nov. 19.