The spirituality of Buddhist teens: religious/spiritual experiences and their associated triggers, attributes and attitudes

Abstract

In the quantitative analysis of a survey of 417 13-to 20-year-old Buddhists, the 48% who had undergone a religious or spiritual experience (RSE) were significantly more likely to self-identify as a spiritual person. Buddhists who had undergone RSEs were also more positive about spiritual teachers, a monastic vocation, attitude to Buddhism, supernatural phenomena and mystical orientation. In the qualitative part of the analysis, descriptions of RSEs volunteered by 107 of these teens were compared with non-Buddhist categories for triggers and attributes. For Buddhist teens, triggers seemed to include a higher percentage of positive states of mind, especially those cultivated in meditation. Buddhist RSEs seemed to represent a subset of possible RSE categories previously described suggesting that Buddhist RSEs come from a spiritual root shared with 'mystics' of other religions. The article argues that the role of RSEs in Buddhist nurture, would seem to concern development of worldview rather than ideology or collectivism. (153 words)

Interrelationships Between Psychosocial, Motivational, and Psychological Processes for Effective Learning: A Structural Equation Modeling Study

“…Recently, for example, our research inquiries have delved into the topical theme of life and death education ( Chen, 2009 , 2012 ; Huang, 2014 ; Phan et al, 2020c ) from the perspective of Taiwanese Education. One aspect of life and death education, reflecting both quality teaching and research development, is the incorporation of Buddhist teaching ( Yeshe and Rinpoche, 1976 ; Master Sheng, 2010 ; Thanissaro, 2015 ), which may encompass Buddhist mindfulness and meditation practice (e.g., “walking meditation”). The underlying premise of Buddhist teaching, in accordance with the study of life and death education, is related to the notion of “spiritual cultivation” ( Phan et al, 2020c , 2021c ).…”

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“…Hapold in Thanissaro (2015) states that spiritual experience describes awareness of non-physical power which transcends their own power. Spiritual experience shows effect which can't be explained by anything worldly, regardless of faith.…”

Life, death, and spirituality: A conceptual analysis for educational research development

“…Consider, for example, the intricate experience of spirituality, situated within the context of Buddhism ( Yen, 2010 ; Thanissaro, 2015 ). A person's ‘spiritual sense’, in this case, may relate to his/her feeling and experience of transcendence – say, the indication of having briefly traversed into the unknown world in order to experience life beyond death.…”

“…Spiritual cultivation is a line of learning and research inquiry that is personal and philosophical, requiring one's willingness to consider perception, understanding, and feeling that are analytical and of higher-order ( Bonab et al, 2013 ; Koenig, 2012 ; Srivastava and Barmola, 2013 ; Thanissaro, 2015 ). Cultivating spirituality, in this sense, requires effort, dedication, personal commitment, conviction, and determination.…”

“…That life and death are both continuous and this overlapping may, in fact, reflect some unknown time-space esoteric entity or dimension that we do not know of. Moreover, from our consideration, the ceasing of life is simply temporary and that the deceased person would either: (i) reborn into another life, which is based on the philosophical reasoning of Buddhism (i.e., the notion of samsāra) ( Thanissaro, 2015 ; Yeshe and Rinpoche, 1976 ), or (ii) enter into another time-space realm in which he/she does not necessarily have a physical presence (i.e., perhaps, the existence of a person's ‘soul’).…”