Fung Kei Cheng

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated public health, economy and social life all over the world, especially wherever a vaccine pass scheme has been implemented. Many countries have begun to relax schedules to return to normal activities. In contrast, Hong Kong continues to tighten the utilisation of a vaccine pass for medical services in order to bo...

Book review.

Confirmed cases and COVID-19-related deaths during the four waves (from 2020 tomid-2021) in Hong Kong are comparatively low and have been attributed toimportation from abroad. Thus, the government claims that its efforts have beeneffective in coping with this disease. However, the public observes other dimensionsof this claim. The discussion in thi...

Background: Since January 2020, worldwide public health has been threatened by COVID-19, for which vaccines have been adopted from December 2020. Discussion: Although vaccines demonstrate effectiveness against this disease, vaccine hesitancy reveals concerns towards short-term and long-term side effects or adverse reactions such as post-inoculation...

The qipao has become the symbol of identity for Chinese women. It is a tight-fitting dress with a standing collar, an asymmetric left-over-right opening and two-side slits. Chinese knot buttons are also an essential part of the qipao. While the garment serves to express Chinese values and has philosophical connotations, its colour, fabric pattern a...

Waves of COVID-19 introduced through imported cases have impeded Hong Kong in the areas of public health, the economy, and individual physical and emotional wellness, livelihood and social life. Increased public health awareness has encouraged the Hong Kong people to prevent transmission through basic methods such as wearing face masks, personal hy...

There is a relatively low number of infections and COVID-19-incurred deaths in Hong Kong, with no city lockdown, despite unfavourable factors such as it having a busy transportation centre, directly adjacent borders, a high population density and a poor living environment. Even worse, confused, inconsistent policies and tactics have created more di...

Urging the government to exercise a complete border closure to inhibit the spread of the novel coronavirus from Mainland China, about 8,000 health care workers participated in a 5-day strike in early February 2020 in Hong Kong. Despite gaining 61% support from the public, dissenters criticised that the participants violated professional ethics and...

The hegemony of dichotomous gender identity dominates the discourse on the issues of sex and gender. Through this means, irrational fear brings about prejudice, stigmatisation, discrimination, and exclusion towards individuals who suffer from gender nonconformity. Despite relevant substantial literature, there is a paucity of research on Chinese tr...

The continuing growth in the number of adults aged 60-plus has raised global alertness of population restructuring. This demographic change, on the one hand, reduces productivity and increases public expenditure due to aging, resulting in prejudice, bias, misrepresentation, and discrimination against them. On the other hand, it develops a specific...

Sleep disorders are hazardous to both physical and psychological health across different population groups, resulting in increased medical expenditure and social costs. Diverse treatments are available to cope with this problem, involving complementary and alternative therapy in which meditation is a non-medication, non-intrusive, safe and economic...

Cultural pluralism and diversity give rise to debates on conflicts and inclusiveness. Scholars largely investigate how people manage their culture of origin within their host culture, and how the host culture helps them adapt to the changes they experience within their new environment. However, both cultures can merge peacefully and the involved cu...

Background: Sleep disorders erode quality of life and increase public medical expenditure. Aside from mainstream therapies, complementary and alternative medicines have been widely adopted, among which the use of acupuncture is rising. Primary study objective: This narrative review analyses research outcomes, and then provides an overview of the...

BACKGROUND Latent threats, such as prolonged labor duration and postpartum hemorrhage, endanger women and newborns during and post childbirth, which produce burdens on natal care and public health expenditures. Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical practice, has increasingly been used for labor delivery in various countries to cope with these...

Although homosexuality is controversial, particularly in conservative communities, many Buddhists accept those whose sexual orientation is different from the majority. In light of scriptures, the Buddhist wisdom reveals compassion towards sentient beings, regardless of sex, age, and social class. This study discusses the Buddhist views on sexual mi...

Am# book review.

With an increasing population experiencing tobacco dependence, an enormous public health medical cost has been induced due to first-hand, second-hand, and third-hand smoking. A variety of instruments are available to aid in smoking cessation, including standard and adjunct therapies, for which acupuncture constitutes a safe and economic measure. Of...

A book review.

Previous scholarly studies have discussed the use of Zen Buddhism within the person-centred approach of Carl Rogers, demonstrating the feasible influence of Buddhism over Rogers's theories. The present research delves into the convergence and divergence of person-centred therapy and the Mahāyāna (one of the current mainstreams of Buddhism) philosop...

Being overweight and obese impacts health due to adiposity itself and illnesses it incurs, which produces individual and societal financial burdens. This urges effective interventions, including adjunct therapies. Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical practice, indicates positive signs for tackling these problems. Investigating 101 empirical h...

When heterosexuality dominates sexual culture, sexual minorities are marginalised, yielding minority stress and internalised phobia which devastate psychological well-being and raise suicide risks. A growing trend in using mindfulness-related interventions in health care shows positive signs, but there is a paucity of research on mindfulness for se...

The lotus, the symbol of Buddhism, essentially represents purity and enlightenment. Based on the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, a significant Mahāyāna scripture, this study analyses the meaning of the lotus, the attributes of a bodhisattva, and the association between lotus and mud, connoting the intimate, interdependent, and interactive relationships...

Thyroid dysfunction, affecting people of all ages, not only damages human growth and energy metabolism but is also comorbid with other illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and gastrointestinal disorders. With the increasing acceptance of alternative and complementary therapies, acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical practice...

Health debilitation negatively impacts the physical and psychiatric states of ageing persons, consequently increasing individual , familial, and social burdens. Physical exercise is an effective measure to cope with this problem, and Baduanjin, a traditional Chinese exercise, is one of the choices. This narrative review analyses 58 clinical studies...

In addition to higher risks of various obstetric and gynaecological illnesses among women with obesity or who are overweight, maternal adiposity threatens the lifetime health of their offspring. Diverse treatments are provided, including complementary and alternative medicine such as Chinese medical practices. Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese med...

(1) Background: Dementia erodes the quality of life of patients and their caregivers, and the growing dementia population threatens public finance in the health and social services. In addition to formal medical treatments, complementary and alternative medicine is applicable to dementia, in which acupuncture has become an option for prevention, re...

Meditation, a practice that includes a variety of different techniques originally intended for religious inspiration or mental discipline, has since been widely adopted for therapeutic purposes. Those therapies have had encouraging clinical outcomes owing to the neuro-biopsychological effects occurring during meditation, which contribute to physiol...

Stigmatising homosexual individuals damages their emotional health and quality of life. In particular, those with religious beliefs may additionally suffer from religious discordance due to their sexual preferences. This exploratory research investigates how Buddhists perceive homosexuality and how Buddhist lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGBs) accep...

Obliviousness to co-existing heterosexuality and homosexuality undermines tolerance of same-sex attraction in traditional Chinese culture. With the influence of conservative Abrahamic religious values since the 19th century, homoeroticism became unacceptable in China. This qualitative research was carried out from March to September 2015 to explore...

Religion-informed social work practice has offered an alternative to clients and social workers, but research examining the practicality of Buddhist based social work is very limited. The present project delves into how Buddhist theories can be applied to social work through the lived experiences of two Buddhist social workers. It adopts individual...

Many individuals with non-heterosexual orientation or gender non-conformity are afflicted by prejudice, discrimination and isolation. This issue has been discussed in the religious field; however, little research has explored it from a Buddhist perspective. This qualitative inquiry investigates the coping strategies of Buddhist sexual minorities, i...

Dealing with physical pain represents a huge public health expenditure, especially for cancer-induced bone pain, one of the most difficult health issues, which impairs appetite, sleep, and mobility, negatively impacting quality of life and evoking mental problems. Although some literature has reported positive correlation between religion and pain...

Parkinson's disease, a progressive neuro-degeneration of multiple systems damaging motor and non-motor functions, affects individual and societal dimensions negatively. In addition to standard treatments, complementary and alternative medicine has been adopted, in which acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical practice by needle penetration at sp...

This document is held under copyright by Hayward Group Ltd, publisher of the European Journal of Palliative Care: www.ejpc.eu.com. It may be downloaded for single academic use only. Reproduction for any other purpose is not allowed. For further information, please contact the journal: ejpc@hayward.co.uk.

Autism spectrum disorders pertain to neuro-developmental disorders that threaten not only the quality of life and social activities of children (or adults) with these illnesses in their lifetime if no proper training is provided, but also multiplies social costs such as public health expenditures. A variety of treatments, including complementary an...

Death anxiety devastates emotional well-being and may produce suicidal ideations, thus lowering life satisfaction. Although much literature suggests that religion reduces this fear, their direct correlation remains controversial. The present case study investigates how a Buddhist perceives life and death, and how she copes with death anxiety throug...

A growing trend in adopting communication technology in qualitative research is driving more Internet-based interviews, including asynchronous (for instance, via email) and synchronous (e.g., through Skype) interviews. My project, which examines the mental health of sexual minorities in various countries, illustrates how to use these two methods fo...

Alcohol use disorder not only endangers individual physical and mental health, but also threatens social costs. Among multifarious treatments, meditation has become a growing option, with encouraging signs. This literature review provides an overview of the effectiveness of this approach, including mindfulness-based, vipassanā, and transcendental m...

Despite the fact that Taijiao (traditional Chinese eugenics) has been part of the Chinese obstetrical culture over the years, there is insufficient scientific evidence for its effectiveness. This literature review analyzes the discourse on Taijiao associated with physical and psychological maternalefetal symbiosis, together with relevant peripheral...

Despite the fact that Taijiao (fetal/embryonic education) has been part of the Chinese obstetrical culture over the years, there is insufficient scientific evidence for its effectiveness. This literature review analyzes the discourse on Taijiao associated with physical and psychological maternal-fetal symbiosis, together with relevant peripheral re...

This study discusses the challenges of tongqi (wives of gay men) in mainland China, and rethinks homosexual–heterosexual marriage. Over 13.6 million tongqi are victimised in mainland China as a result of the traditional ancestral-oriented family system that coerces homosexual–heterosexual marriage for lineage inheritance. Having suffered from not o...

Childhood mental health problems not only incur a financial burden but more importantly damages individual and family well-being, which compels mental care practitioners to search for solutions, among which meditation is a more economical method. This integrative review investigates the effectiveness of meditation on psychological problems for adol...

Quality in the workforce is essential for organizational competitiveness, requiring human resource executives to develop programs in pursuit of business success: one such possibility is meditation. The current integrative review provides an overview of how meditation can contribute to life in the workplace. In analyzing 10 empirical studies carried...

Available literature, largely based on Western theories, investigates suffering from spousal loss, which can threaten an individual’s physical health and psychological well-being; however, limited studies examine how Buddhists overcome this difficulty. This case study, by in-depth semi-structured interviews, explores the lived experience of a Buddh...

This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of the effectiveness of expressive art based interventions on adolescent mental health, the discussion of which is expanded more concretely through the concept of health humanities. The World Health Organisation has reported that the severity of childhood mental disorders produces a heavy burden on famil...

Compassion positively correlates to happiness and increases in psychological capabilities, as supported by a substantial body of research evidence. Although previous studies have indicated the effectiveness of Buddhist-influenced compassionate mind training on mental health, very few have examined compassion theories related to therapeutic interven...

Summary tables

The present literature review provides an overview of the benefits to women's health gained from practising Qigong (including Tai Chi and Baduanjin), including those who suffer from breast cancer, menopausal-related problems, menstrual disorders, and a variety of physical and psychological illnesses. It analyses 48 studies (n=38 in English, n=10 in...

本文的研究意義既給與無盡燈法門在心理諮詢上的現代詮釋，也提供心理諮詢理論一個可行的參考，可算是佛法應用於當代社會的一種嘗試。本文旨在初步探討無盡燈法門從世間法的層面對心理諮詢的啟示。無盡燈法門是《維摩詰所說經》中重要的教義之一，它以無盡燈為比喻，確定菩薩的使命，強調修菩薩道的目的在饒益眾生，總結菩薩的修行，示範菩薩道的實踐，並說明隨應說法的善巧，使菩薩能圓滿殊勝的本願；從這個角度而言，無盡燈法門與現代的心理諮詢在目標、效能、技巧等各方面可謂異曲同工；在這基礎上，本文凸顯維摩教義對心理諮詢的啟發。無盡燈法門的啟示包括：第一、眾生本性平等，同具佛性，故魔亦能去惡行善，無盡燈燃點心燈，去除魔障，超越自我，這正是當代心理諮詢的理念；第二、心理諮詢師的任務是以互相尊重的平等關係，如明燈一般地協助案主如...

A considerable amount of research has reported on the effects of Taiji exercise on physical health, which also benefits psychological welfare. The present comprehensive review delves into the effectiveness of Taiji on mental well-being from 21 projects (n=13 in English, n=8 in Chinese) conducted in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. R...

The current pilot study examines how two women are dealing with divorce through Buddhist teachings. It has been conducted by means of face-to-face, in-depth interviews, together with visual art, and various levels of triangulation for enriching data and enhancing trustworthiness. The emerging data (grouped into nine emergent themes and three super-...

Results from the recent growing trend in using mindfulness training to deal with depression report an evident decrease in depressive symptoms. The present idiographic case study explores the lived experience of how a woman with depression recovered through Buddhist teachings and practices. This single case adopted multiple data sources, including i...

Encountering conflicts among family members in hospital produces burnout among nurses, implying a need for alternative dispute resolution training. However, current nursing education pays more attention to counselling skills training than to mediation. The present report examines the fundamental concepts of mediation, including its nature, basic as...

Mahāyāna devotees assert that helping other people is the practice of the bodhisattva path. This qualitative inquiry explores how Buddhists apply the bodhisattva spirit in modern society. It recruited 38 participants for in-depth interviews and analyzed data using interpretative phenomenological analysis, with the aid of ATLAS.ti 7, a software pack...

With the advent of the use of Buddhist teachings in therapy, including the four immeasurables (loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity), mental health scholars have achieved encouraging results. This critical review analyses 16 empirical studies on this theory with regard to their relation to mental health care, focusing on comp...

The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, an influential Mahāyāna scripture, is famous for its used stories for the purpose of preaching, in particular, “A Goddess Scattering Flowers”, an internationally renowned scene which expounds on major Mahāyāna teachings. By analysing its dramatic representations, the current study elaborates on the doctrine of indiscr...

Compassion fatigue demolishes productivity and the mental health of helping professionals. And yet, very little research has investigated it from the Buddhist perspective. The following mixed-method research explores how Buddhists overcome and prevent compassion fatigue during their caring services. With reference to the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra (...

大乘菩薩本著大慈大悲而發菩提心，以度化眾生為己任，不捨世間，不著出世間，以純粹的清淨心，隨順眾生取淨土，自他兩利；但實踐這大悲願，必先克服「愛見悲」。本文以《維摩詰所說經》為根據，闡釋何謂「愛見悲」以及如何克服之。經中強調：要調伏「愛見悲」的束縛，必須離二法，以般若空慧行方便，實現無緣大慈，同體大悲的弘願，圓滿菩薩成就眾生的使命；可見克服「愛見悲」是對治菩薩的煩惱，對菩薩的修持別具意義。

The current integrative review investigated thematic studies relevant to incorporating Chinese Buddhism into counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, and mental health; identified topical and methodological gaps; and, finally, proposed future research directions for developing Chinese-Buddhism-oriented counselling theories. The review search include...

Philip Martin (2009), in this book The Zen Path through Depression, shares his personal " re-awakening " (148) journey: how he has coped with severe depression, with which he was diagnosed at age thirty-seven, through Buddhist wisdom. Although he had himself received a psychiatric educa-tion, he was apparently unable to tackle his own mental illnes...

A number of studies have integrated Buddhist principles into therapeutic interventions, demonstrating effective outcomes; however, very little Buddhist textual data support the theoretical foundation of those models. This exploratory research conceptualises a counselling framework based on a canonical analysis of the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra, toge...

Mental health has become a critical global issue over the last century, adversely impacting individual happiness, social costs and human capital, all of which devastate national competitiveness, urging government leaders to take immediate action to solve this problem. Caring professionals have studied medical and non-medicinal solutions, including...

The current integrative review aims to do the following: first, examine the Chinese and English topical studies on the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra published from 1900 to 2011; second, analyze the characteristics of those works; third, investigate related study trends through a statistical analysis; and finally, identify research gaps. This review not...

This work specifies how to use ATLAS.ti 7, one of the leading computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), or briefly, qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) (Lewins & Silver, 2007), in analysing the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra (henceforth called the Sūtra), the Buddhist canon adopted in the current research for conceptualising a...

Myriads of scholarly sources have studied various aspects of being a bodhisattva; yet few of them look into the practicability of the bodhisattva path in the modern era. The present research discusses the notion of what a bodhisattva is, and investigates the Buddhist understanding of this concept and its praxis in a contemporary social context. Thi...

There are many academic publications, based on Western theories, which investigate suffering from spousal loss, which can threaten an individual’s physical health and psychological well-being; however, few studies examine how Buddhists tackle this difficulty. This case study, by in-depth semi-structured interviews, explores the lived experience of...

The aims of the current research are as follows: first, review the challenges of rendering Buddhist texts into Chinese and English through the study of the passage “the dharma of emancipation of the exhaustible and inexhaustible”, as articulated in the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra; and second, discuss the scholarly argument by which these Chinese and...

In the present case, I have employed focus groups as a research strategy for triangulation purposes to validate the qualitative data following individual interviews from the entire research project. This case shares my experiences in using focus group to gather multidimensional and reliable data, covering the environmental factors and features, pro...

The present research aims to explore perception of Hong Kong employees towards workplace coun-seling and workplace counselors. This preliminary exploration adopted a qualitative approach. Two individual face-to-face and semi-structured interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The interviewees showed very little k...

Purpose: The present exploratory research aims to develop a counselling framework based on the theory of the Four Noble Truths and its multi-interplay of causality among the four elements. Structure: This paper composes of two main themes. The first part is to delineate the theory of the Four Noble Truths from Āgama. It then displays the process-fo...