Study on the effects of participating in the Chinese Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng’s Pilgrimage Meditation Program: Focusing on self-compassion, mindfulness, spiritual well-being, and quality of life

Participation in a pilgrimage meditation program centered on the holy sites of Great Master Hui Neng of China was associated with increases in self-compassion (specifically universal humanity and mindfulness subscales), spiritual well-being, and quality of life. No statistically significant change was observed in mindfulness subfactors or the overall mindfulness scale. The findings suggest that pilgrimage meditation may benefit individual psychological well-being and offer a basis for psychological interventions using this practice.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effects of pilgrimage meditation centered on the pilgrimage to the holy sites of Great Master Hui Neng of China on self-compassion, mindfulness, spiritual well-being, and quality of life. To this end, we conducted a pre- and post-survey to measure self-compassion, mindfulness, spiritual well-being, and quality of life among participants in a pilgrimage meditation program centered on Chinese holy sites, and performed a paired-samples t-test. The results of this study are as follows. First, the average scores of the post-survey on the sub-factors of self-compassion, including universal humanity, mindfulness, and the entire self-compassion scale, were statistically significantly higher than the average scores of the pre-survey, following participation in pilgrimage meditation. Second, there was no statistically significant mean difference between the pre- and post-survey in the subfactors of mindfulness and the overall scale according to participation in pilgrimage meditation. Third, the average of the post-survey on spiritual well-being was found to be statistically significantly higher than the average of the pre-survey following participation in pilgrimage meditation. Fourth, the average of the post-survey on quality of life following participation in pilgrimage meditation was found to be statistically significantly higher than the average of the pre-survey. The results of this study are expected to confirm the effects of pilgrimage meditation on individual psychology and provide basic information on psychological intervention using pilgrimage meditation.