Journal of Meditation based Psychological Counseling (J Medit Psychol Couns)
Indexed in KCI
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED
pISSN 2289-0823
eISSN 2671-6119
Research Article

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

General Affairs, Prayer and Faith Department, Woljeongsa Temple

Correspondence to Kim, Seongryong (Ven. Hye Muk), E-mail: buda1527@daum.net

Volume 33, Pages 1-13, April 2025.
Journal of Meditation Based Psychological Counseling 2025, 33, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.12972/mpca.2025.33.1
Received on April 14, 2025, Revised on April 28, 2025, Accepted on April 28, 2025, Published on April 30, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 Meditation based Psychological Counseling Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).

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.

Keywords

Hui Neng, pilgrimage, self-compassion, mindfulness, spiritual well-being

Section