The Effect of Four Years of Participation in a Tibetan Buddhist Retreat on Perceptions of Physiological and Psychological Well-Being
✍ Scribed by MALCOM MACLACHLAN; EILISH McAULIFFE; RICHARD C. PAGE; DEBORAH B. ALTSCHUL; REBECCA TABONY
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 556 KB
- Volume
- 43
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0160-7960
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✦ Synopsis
The researchers assessed the effect of participation in a Tibetan retreat at a center in Scotland over a 4-year period using the General Health Questionnaire-60 (Goldberg & Williams, 1988) and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1988). Residence at the retreat center did not show any harmful or beneficial effects on the participants' levels of stress and general health as measured by these scales.
Buddhism is a philosophy of life that has as its ultimate goal helping people to acheve awareness and eventually enhghtenment (Tenzin Gyatso, 1995). Having begun in In&a approximately 2,000 years ago, Buddhsm spread throughout Asia, changmg nuances as it integrated with divergent cultural groups (Humphreys, 1951). Consequently, many diverse sects of Buddhsm exist today, resulting in a myriad of interpretations of traditional Buddhist principles.
Tibetan Buddhsm, for instance, was established during the seventh century B.C. through the convergence of the animistic and shamanistic beliefs of the indgenous Bon culture of Tibet with the traditional Indian Buddhism prominent at the time (Batchelor, 1987). Over the course of 400 years (approximately 700-1100 A.D.), Buddhism was formally established in Tibet through the meticulous translation of the entire Sansknt written corpus and through travels of Tibetans to In&a in search of knowledge, as well as travels of Indians to Tibet with the intent of providmg instruction (Batchelor, 1987). Thus, much of the origmal doctrinal content remains intact as a result