A Religion of Wellbeing? The Appeal of Buddhism to Men in London, United Kingdom
Abstract
Against a backdrop of increasing secularization, the number of Buddhists in Britain continues to rise (Office for National Statistics, 2012). However, few studies have explored the reasons people are drawn toward Buddhism, with none focusing on men specifically. Uniquely, we conducted in-depth narrative interviews with 30 male meditators in London, United Kingdom, to explore the appeal Buddhism held for them. Buddhism was portrayed as a nexus of ideas and practices that improved men’s lives. Analyzed through the prism of a multidimensional biopsychosocial model of wellbeing, Buddhism appeared to have the potential to promote wellbeing in biological terms (e.g., health behaviors), psychological terms (e.g., generating subjective wellbeing), and social terms (e.g., offering a supportive social network). From a gendered perspective, Buddhism offered men the opportunity to rework their masculine identity in ways that enhanced their wellbeing. This was a complex development, in which traditional masculine norms were upheld (e.g., Buddhism was constructed as a ‘rational’ framework of ideas/practices), yet also challenged (e.g., norms around alcohol abstinence). Our study offers new insights into the hazards and the attractions—particularly for men—of engaging with Buddhism
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... Second, the Western view of mindfulness dominates the literature and attracts most of researchers' focus. Nevertheless, like other religions, Buddhism can benefit its practitioners with health, social, and psychological well-being improvements (Lomas, Cartwright, Edginton, & Ridge, 2014). ...
This thesis is an exploration of Vietnamese older people’s perspective of psychological well-being. Although well-being in later adulthood is a developing field in psychology which attracts the focus of many researchers, the body of research on this area in Vietnam is limited. Daily experiences and insights of 10 Vietnamese older people were collected and analysed using the phenomenological approach and thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the interviews. “A mindful state of being” consists of the awareness and acceptance of physical dimensions in the participants’ life. “The value of self” is the participants’ assertion of their autonomy and existential meaning. Meanwhile, “interdependence” shows how the elderly’s lives harmoniously intertwined with their social relationships. These results depict Vietnamese older people’s psychological well-being as an integration of Eastern and Western perspectives. It involves older people’s awareness of their role as an autonomous individual as well as an integrated part of society.
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10179/14686
... In that latter sense, the mettā bhāvana is treated as complementary to mindfulness, in that it may allow practitioners to transfer these attitudinal qualities into mindfulness practice itself, thus endowing it with the recommended compassion and kindness. For that reason, Buddhist movements like Triratna-one of the most popular in the United Kingdom-offer mindfulness and the mettā bhāvana to beginners as their two foundational practices (Lomas, Cartwright, Edginton, & Ridge, 2014). The mettā bhāvana is effective in promoting well-being, as shown in a raft of studies (which operationalize it as loving-kindness meditation) (see Gallacher, 2014, andShonin, Van Gordon, Compare, Zangeneh, &Griffiths, 2015, for reviews). ...
This chapter offers an overview of the intricate connections between meditation and emotion. It begins by outlining a framework for understanding meditation, whereby practices can be classified according to four key parameters: behaviors of mind; object; attitude; and form. It also introduces some basic ideas around the nature of emotions, and affective experience more broadly. After that, the chapter has two main sections. The first explores direct interactions between meditation and emotion, where practices specifically target or elicit certain emotions. We shall look at four clusters of emotions: dysphoric; compassionate; reverential; and ambivalent. The second part then examines indirect interactions, in which the emotional effects of meditation are mediated by other processes. There we consider three such processes: physiology; cognition; and self-transcendence. Although the presentation is necessarily brief, the chapter gives an indication of the ways in which meditation may impact upon emotional experience. The chapter concludes by outlining directions for future research.
... Additionally, beyond people simply participating in an MBI, much more knowledge is needed about the extent and quality of their involvement with meditation. In that respect, besides quantitatively tracking participation, studies could incorporate a qualitative element to their assessment (see Lomas et al. (2013Lomas et al. ( , 2014aLomas et al. ( , b, 2015aLomas et al. ( , 2016 on the value of qualitative analyses in relation to mindfulness practice). Third, where possible, trials should involve well-established MBIs (i.e. ...
Efforts to improve the well-being of healthcare professionals include mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). To understand the value of such initiatives, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of empirical studies pertaining to the use of MBIs with healthcare professionals. Databases were reviewed from the start of records to January 2016 (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42016032899). Eligibility criteria included empirical analyses of well-being outcomes acquired in relation to MBIs. Forty-one papers met the eligibility criteria, consisting of a total of 2101 participants. Studies were examined for two broad classes of well-being outcomes: (a) “negative” mental health measures such as anxiety, depression, and stress; (b) “positive” indices of well-being, such as life satisfaction, together with outcomes associated with well-being, such as emotional intelligence. MBIs were generally associated with positive outcomes in relation to most measures (albeit with moderate effect sizes), and mindfulness does appear to improve the well-being of healthcare professionals. However, the quality of the studies was inconsistent, so further research is needed, particularly high-quality randomised control trials.
... As such, the way in which teachings have been formulated and presented in MBIs like MBSR potentially holds more appeal and familiarity to participants who are also from this North American context (Wilson, 2014). Regarding the fourth factor (more women in the intervention group), researchers are beginning to look at mindfulness through the prism of gender (see e.g., Lomas et al., 2013Lomas et al., , 2014Lomas et al., , 2016, drawing on literature which suggests men may have more difficulty than women in engaging with their emotions (e.g., due to the socialisation of masculinity norms such as invulnerability and stoicism) (Courtenay, 2000). In that light, it is understandable that females may be relatively more responsive to developing qualities such as compassion through meditation then men. ...
Given the demanding nature of many professions, efforts are ongoing to develop initiatives to improve occupational wellbeing, including mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). To assess the efficacy of MBIs, meta-analytic procedures were conducted on 35 randomized controlled trials derived from an earlier inclusive systematic literature search (covering all occupations, MBIs, and wellbeing-related outcomes). Mindfulness had significant moderate effects on deficit-based outcomes such as stress (SMD = −0.57), anxiety (SMD = −0.57), distress (SMD = −0.56), depression (SMD = −0.48), and burnout (SMD = −0.36), and significant moderate to small effects on asset-based outcomes like health (SMD = 0.63), job performance (SMD = 0.43), compassion and empathy (SMD = 0.42), mindfulness (SMD = 0.39), and positive wellbeing (SMD = 0.36), while no significant effects were observed for depression or emotional regulation. However, the quality of the studies was inconsistent, suggesting more high-quality randomised controlled trials are needed.
... Indeed, most terms explored here justify in-depth treatments, exploring their nuances at length; however, to achieve the comparative analysis aimed for here requires an inevitable trade-off between depth and breadth. Thus, with sati it is sufficient to note that it is the basis-as a loan translation, i.e., semantic borrowing-for mindfulness, which has become somewhat ubiquitous in the West (Lomas et al. 2014;Ivtzan and Lomas 2016). For instance, drawing on treatments of sati in the Pāli canon, Kabat-Zinn (2003, p. 145) defines mindfulness as "the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment". ...
Although the notion of virtue is increasingly prominent in psychology, the way it has been studied and conceptualised has been relatively Western-centric, and does not fully account for variations in how it has been understood cross-culturally. As such, an enquiry was conducted into ideas relating to virtue found across the world’s cultures, focusing specifically on so-called untranslatable words. Through a quasi-systematic search of academic and grey literature, together with conceptual snowballing and crowd-sourced suggestions, over 200 relevant terms were located. An adapted grounded theory analysis identified five themes which together provide an insight into the “roots” of virtue (i.e., the main sources from which it appears to spring): virtue itself (the concept of it); considerateness (caring about it); wisdom (knowing what it consists of); agency (managing to be/do it); and skill (mastery of the preceding elements). The results help shed further light on the potential dynamics of this important phenomenon.
... A neglected but potentially important possibility is that gains in spiritual engagement might mediate some benefits from mindfulness, meditation, and yoga interventions (Kristeller 2010). This possibility is consistent with evidence that many Western converts to Buddhism were meditating before they became Buddhist (e.g., Lomas et al. 2014). This has led to suggestions that a substantial portion of longterm benefits from currently popular secularized mindfulness meditation programs might be attributable to subsequent engagement with more conventional forms of Buddhism (Oman 2015). ...
This chapter is the first of thirteen reviews in this volume providing a public health perspective on the empirical evidence relating religion and spirituality (R/S) to physical and mental health. This chapter emphasizes an essentially epidemiologic perspective, reviewings evidence bearing on a “generic” model of how an individual’s engagement in religion/spirituality may causally affect that individual’s health through pathways that include health behaviors, social connections and support, ability to draw upon distinctively religious/spiritual methods of coping, and mental health. In US-based and often in international and non-Western samples, R/S factors tend to correlate with healthier profiles on social connections, health behaviors, substance abuse, mental health, and psychological well-being. R/S coping is multidimensional and adds incremental predictiveness beyond measures of secular coping. Hundreds of studies link positive R/S coping to better adjustment, and negative forms of R/S coping to worse adjustment.
... Faith seems to be generally related to satisfaction with life, in other words, with wealth in the broadest sense (Bergan and McConatha 2000;Lee 2007). Religion and religious practices play an important role for the individual's wellbeing (Aghababei 2014; Jackson and Bergeman 2011;Lomas et al. 2014;Strawbridge et al. 1997). However, three recent reviews highlighted that a minority of studies have found negative associations between religion and mental health (Joshi et al. 2008;Koenig 2009;Weber and Pargament 2014). ...
We aimed to examine whether young adults practicing Buddhism have elevated levels of psychological resources and specific personality traits compared to Catholics and Atheists. We recruited 184 participants: Soka Gakkai Buddhists (n = 60); non-practicing Roman Catholic Church believers (n = 62); Atheists (n = 62). We found that the Buddhists have higher optimism than both Catholics and Atheists. They also have higher self-efficacy and self-esteem than Catholics and higher perceived social support than Atheists. Concerning global personality factors, they are more extraverted than the other groups, and they are less tough-minded than Catholics. Differences also emerged relating some primary personality factors. Since we did not find differences between Catholics and Atheists about psychological resources, we speculate that religion alone does not provide an efficacious source of psychological resources; it could be that religious practice is determinant.
Happiness is an increasingly prominent topic across academia, with a burgeoning array of research into its different aspects. Among the most dynamic and interdisciplinary work in this arena are studies exploring the myriad factors that influence it. These span multiple topics and fields of enquiry, from physiology and identity to politics and economics, covering analyses at both individual and national levels. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of such work, identifying seven overarching ‘conditions’ (in themselves multifaceted) that contribute towards the complex creation of happiness: temperament; health; demographics; relationships and communities; culture; economics and equality; and governance. Theoretically, these are conceived as constituting the ‘multidimensional conditionality’ of happiness (i.e. conditions that contribute to its arising, which interact in complex ways). The paper also highlights issues with current scholarship, providing a stimulus for further work on this important topic.
Three-quarters of children in Myanmar face developmental barriers and risk-increasing conditions such as poverty, broken families, and difficulty accessing basic requirements. These children rely heavily on institutionalization. Given the adverse effects of institutional systems, knowing the differing impacts of sociodemographic and cultural factors is foundational to aiding healthy personal outcomes. Thus, this study focused primarily on enhancing the resilience of children in a monastic school through a dhamma-based school intervention. A three-phase mixed quantitative-qualitative research design was applied: a descriptive survey, an experimental research method, and an interview session. Three-hundred sixty-nine middle school students from five monastic schools completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and personal information forms. Regarding the sociodemographic group, hierarchical multiple regression revealed a significant predictive role of positive relationship with caregivers and community support in resilience. Furthermore, we experimentally examined the effectiveness of the program on resilience and related themes in a mixed factorial design. A paired-sample t-test, and two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the intervention significantly improved resilience. Interview results evidenced the current conditions and the beneficial impact of the intervention in enhancing personal strengths. This study not only provides empirical evidence for the instant, follow-up, and transfer effects of the program but also holds implications for authorities and stakeholders in the context of social welfare for needy children regarding contributions to advance culturally well-suited programs and, consequently, the population’s mental health.
Teenage boys are a source of considerable concern in society, with generally poorer health, educational, and social outcomes than their female counterparts. Of particular concern are “at-risk” adolescents, who by definition are liable to poorer outcomes than peers not deemed at-risk. However, there are indications that activities such as mindfulness may offer opportunities for such adolescents to negotiate more positive constructions of masculinity. This study piloted a new four-week mindfulness-based intervention, created specifically for a group of eight at-risk adolescent boys at a school in London. In-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with participants before and after the intervention and analyzed using grounded theory. The data revealed an overarching theme of “pressure control.” Participants depicted themselves as facing multiple pressures, many of which related to making the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. However, the context of the intervention enabled them to generate a masculine construction in which they were able to reclaim agency and self-control. Notably, such control was often exercised in the direction of facilitating emotional connection and agility, thus subverting traditional masculine expectations. The results show that at-risk adolescent boys are capable of more nuanced and skilled emotional competencies than they are often given credit for.
This ar.ticle reviews research into the genesis and spread of both neighbourhood houses and learning centres in Victoria and community-based men's sheds in Australia to identify some similarities and differences. Our article asks questions about the gendered communities ofpractice that underpin houses for women on the one hand, and shedsfor men on the other. Our particular interest is with the gender issues associated with the development ofthe relatively mature neighbourhood house 'sector', and those associated with the very recent and developing community-based men's sheds 'sector'. Our underpinning research question has to do with the desirability (or otherwise) in each ofthese sectors ofpolitical and strategic decisions being either gender specific or gender neutral. We identifiJ a number oftantalising parallels between the rationale behind the establishment ofboth sectors,jor women and men, albeit in very different circumstances, along with some obvious differences.
Objectives To report the findings of a literature review of the concept of wellbeing and consider its operational and heuristic potential within a range of disciplines.
Design A literature review to examine the philosophical roots of wellbeing and the contributions of the main disciplines uncovered by the review; economics, psychology, health studies, sociology, anthropology and biomedicine.
Setting 'Wellbeing' is a concept of increasing interest to those working in health promotion, social and public health medicine and medical sociology. Despite its popularity, wellbeing lacks a clear conceptual base and there is little consensus about how it may be identified, measured and achieved.
Method Although conducted rigorously this was more of a scoping exercise than a systematic review. The reviewer was given a fairly broad exploratory brief including qualitative and quantitative dimensions. The search was restricted to articles in the English Language between the years 1980-2001.
Results Most disciplines tended to be biased towards one or two aspects of the three major aspects of physical, social and psychological Wellbeing, with the main exception of child wellbeing studies. Those working in economics made a significant contribution to understanding conceptual elements of wellbeing. The fields of psychology and biomedicine were more concerned with negative than positive affect. There was a particular lack of consensus and research around social wellbeing.
Conclusion Although wellbeing may indeed be extremely useful as a unifying concept for all those involved in health improvement or health research,at present it is being used unreflectively, thus potentially masking differences.
The book describes and analysis the coming of Buddhism to Western countries and related processes of adaptation and innovation
British Buddhism presents a useful insight into contemporary British Buddhist practice. It provides a survey of the seven largest Buddhist traditions in the United Kingdom, including the Forest Sangha (Theravada) and the Samatha Trust (Theravada), the Serene Reflection Meditation tradition (Soto Zen) and Soka Gakkai (both originally Japanese), the Tibetan Karma Kagyu and New Kadampa traditions and Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. Based on extensive fieldwork, this fascinating book determines how and to what extent British Buddhist groups are changing from their Asian roots, and whether any forms of British Buddhism are beginning to emerge. Despite the popularity of Buddhism in Britain, there has so far been no study documenting the full range of teachings and practice. This is an original study that fills this gap and serves as an important reference point for further studies in this increasingly popular field.
While European converts to Islam represent only a tiny percentage of Europe's Muslim population, members of that group have participated in major Islamist terrorist plots and attacks on European soil. Although the radicalization process has not been the same for all individuals, it could be still possible to understand the circumstances under which some European converts turned to violence. Therefore, the article focuses on a number of mechanisms that may have contributed to the radicalization of European jihadi converts, including personal victimization, political grievance, the slippery slope effect, the power of love and the inspirational preaching.