Green Worship: The Effects of Devotional and Behavioral Factors on Adopting Electronic Incense Products in Religious Practices

Abstract

The Buddhist tradition of incense burning has been practiced in many Asian countries. Prior studies have indicated that frequent exposure to incense smoke is linked to carcinogen-related health issues. However, widespread acceptance of health-friendly electronic incense and rituals remains limited. Based on theories of religious perceptions and health behavior, the present study aims to identify the factors which influence the acceptance of electronic incense burning in religious practices. A between-subjects (105 Buddhist participants) experiment was designed to compare the effects of different incense burners on religiosity, worship intention, perceived self-efficacy, health-promotion intention, and its underlying mechanism. Our results imply that Buddhists tend to show similar religiosity and worship intention in three different scenarios, namely, the usage of a traditional incense burner, an electronic incense burner, and an electronic burner attached with a doctrine reminder. Buddhists also tend to have a higher perceived self-efficacy and higher health-promotion intention when exposed to electronic incense scenarios (either with or without the attached doctrine reminder). The perceived self-efficacy was found to mediate the effect of the incense burning on health-promotion intention. Important implications for public policies are also discussed.

The Sacred Power of Beauty: Examining the Perceptual Effect of Buddhist Symbols on Happiness and Life Satisfaction in China

“…It suggests that the aesthetics of Buddhist symbols Mudra, such as a hand holding a lotus flower, plays a significant role in improving subjective well-being. This is consistent with the prior literature that a religious symbol could enhance people's psychological enjoyment, pleasure [22][23][24][25][26][27]38,72], and experience [54].…”

“…Recently, the aesthetic power of the Buddhist gesture symbol has been emphasized in the related literature [22][23][24][25][26][27]72]. Scholars, like Deng [38], have examined how the Buddhist gesture symbol has been utilized and adapted to enhance people's aesthetic satisfaction and life quality through psychological enjoyment and pleasure elicited by Buddhist spirituality.…”

“…Durkheim [13] underlines the effects of religious symbols-through transferring the collective energy of religiosity onto a visible object-on uniting and enlightening people who have shared beliefs. Given this, considering the aesthetic effects of Buddhist gesture symbols on enjoyment and pleasure elicited by Buddhist spirituality [22][23][24][25][26][27]72], we hypothesize that Buddhist gesture symbols facilitate people's religiosity. In addition, the mediator of religiosity has been previously studied to impact subjective well-being.…”

“…The aesthetic effect of Buddhist artworks has worked as a prevalent way to teach people Buddhist doctrines in history and construct its profound meaning system through figurative quality [19,20]. Buddhist symbols in artworks, particularly the symbol of the Buddha gesture, can embody and symbolize the intangible meanings and powers rooted in Buddhist spirituality with beautiful decoration [21][22][23]. Empirical research [24] suggests that religious symbols impact positive health behaviors; however, the aesthetic effect is underestimated with limited evidence, especially in the case of Buddhist symbols.…”

“…As a sensible medium, Buddhist symbols tend to encourage people's conceptual processing of their religiosity through enriched comprehension. Though the aesthetic power of Buddhist gesture symbols has been previously discussed [22][23][24][25][26][27], limited empirical evidence has been provided to underpin the theoretical relationship between the aesthetics of Buddhist symbols and relevant psychological constructs and processes.…”