Meditation Practices by Chinese Buddhists During COVID-19 Pandemic: Motivations, Activities, and Health Benefits

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to examine the meditation practices of Chinese Buddhists during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on their motivation and activities, and the health benefits derived from meditation. Initially, the article delves into the motivations driving Chinese Buddhists to practise meditation. Subsequently, it explores the meditation-related activities undertaken by Chinese Buddhists. The article also investigates the role of faith in fostering resilience within the Chinese Buddhist community by exploring the medical benefits of meditation, with special emphasis on its effectiveness in alleviating health issues stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. This article reveals that the motivation for practising meditation arises from the aspiration to attain enlightenment in accordance with Buddhist teachings and that the meditation-related activities not only spread across major Chinese Buddhist communities worldwide but also serve as a source of solace for followers grappling with the challenges posed by the pandemic. Additionally, the article provides strong evidence to support that meditation-based interventions have positive effects on mental and physical health problems caused by the pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Buddhist meditation
• Chinese Buddhists
• COVID-19 pandemic
• medical benefits
• online intervention
• online mindfulness
• spiritual motivation

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. For accuracy of translation and context, a Chinese translation is given when a specific Sanskrit or English term first appears in this article. In the case of Chinese translations or Chinese documents written before 1955, Traditional Chinese characters 繁體字 are used. Hanyu pinyin 漢語拼音 is used to transcribe Chinese names, place names, and terms.

2. The bodhisattva path is the way of enlightenment pursued by Chinese Buddhists to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings (not only for self-interest but also for others’ interests) by embracing wisdom (to direct the mind to enlightenment) and compassion (concern for others).

3. With few exceptions, Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures are cited according to their Chinese translations in the Taishō tripiṭaka (1934). For the convenience of readers, the author adds the Chinese sūtra names, e.g. 大寶積經, followed by the volume number in the Taishō tripiṭaka (T) and the text number (n) in parentheses, e.g., (T11n0310). The associated texts cited in this article are all based on the CBETA (Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association, Taipei, Taiwan) version, available at https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/.

4. Nirvaṇa is the ultimate state of release from the cycle of rebirth to the end of suffering.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ampere A. Tseng

Ampere A. Tseng is a Director and Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University (Tempe, USA). He received his PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1978. In recent years, he has become interested in conducting research in the area of Buddhist vegetarianism, as well as on the profile and practices of Mahayana Buddhists across the globe. He has published 200 journal articles, reaching a Google h-index score of 42 and an i10-index number of 115 as of August 2022. He has held nine US patents and delivered more than 200 invited seminars or keynote speeches. Recently, he edited a monograph entitled Exploring the Life and Teachings of Mahayana Buddhists in Asia, published by Nova Science Publishers, New York in October 2020. He has been bestowed a Chair Professorship from (1) National Tsinghua University (Hsinchu), (2) National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taipei), (3) Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic), and (4) Henan University (Kaifeng). He has been granted a National Research Council Professorship from both the National Taiwan University (Taipei) and the National Cheng Kung University (Tainan). He has also been awarded guest professorships from Tsinghua University (Beijing), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the University of Science and Technology of China (Hefei) (none of which endowed chairs or named professorships to foreigners at the time he was appointed).