Development of Borobudur Integrated Ecosystem to Improve Tourist Motivation Visit

This paper discusses the development of Borobudur's integrated ecosystem to improve tourist motivation visit. The approach used is analyzing twenty papers related to tourist motivation, making synthesis, and producing a critical view for each related article, and using the keywords from each article to conduct a semi-structured interview. This research aims to increase Millennial tourists' length-of-stay by determining the tourists' motivation and the tourists' expectations before visiting Borobudur temple. The results show that the factors influencing tourists' visits are the perceived quality and perceived cost. The perceived quality is the quality of tourist services, destination appearance, and the emotional experience tourists expect to get. The perceived cost is the monetary and non-monetary cost tourists spend to visit. Perceived quality and cost will greatly influence tourists' behavioural intentions to visit or even revisit intention. This research focuses only on the Borobudur area and Millennials tourists visiting Borobudur in a window of time. This research timeline was January to March before the COVID-19 happened. The findings of this study will be useful for stakeholders and academics. The government could use this study to produce a thematic road map for the Borobudur area.

'Keeping our Faith Alive': Investigating Buddhism Practice during COVID-19 to Inform Design for the Online Community Practice of Faith

Supportive digital technologies for the community practice of Faith remain relatively under-explored in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). We report on interviews with 12 members of a Buddhist community in the UK who self-organized and used video-conferencing tools to remain connected to their faith community during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to understand how they adopted online tools for their practice while shaping new collective experiences. Findings from Reflexive Thematic Analysis were combined with autoethnographic insights from the first author, also a community member. We evidence qualities of the practice that were valued by participants before and during the pandemic, and the limitations of existing tools and screen-based interactions. We contribute empirical insights on mediated religious and spiritual practice, advancing HCI discourses on Techno-Spirituality, Tangible Embodied Interaction, Soma Design and More-than-Human Worlds. We further develop design considerations for enriching spiritual experiences that are meaningful to practitioners in communities of faith. © 2023 Owner/Author.

The stories of Siddhartha and Captain Tom: Lifetimes apart but connecting us together

This chapter will explore how stories during the Covid-19 pandemic offered the potential to help us re-connect with our human nature. Through the lens of a biblical parable and the story of the Buddha the author draws out parallels with the story of 'Captain Tom' and why this story during the pandemic crisis seemed to capture the imagination of the world. The chapter explores how personal stories can give readers strength because of their imaginative capacity to help to connect with others, conveying a truth that story can make accessible. It considers how story can help bring balance to an over-emphasis on the intellect alone and restore us to emotional health through connecting with existential nature and vulnerability. In the spirit of storytelling, the author begins by sharing a story and parable from the bible to set the scene of this chapter. The Covid-19 story helps to get in touch with our lost vulnerability, particularly those of us living in the western world who can immerse ourselves in consumerism, creating the illusion we are in control of our lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Tourism and the transformation of religious hospitality: An ethnography of osettai along the Choishi- michi pilgrimage route, Japan

The increasing popularity of walking pilgrimage has created new forms of inter-action and exchange between pilgrims and residents along pilgrimage routes. As a result, religious hospitality along these pilgrimage routes is also under trans-formation. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted along the Koyasan Choishi-michi pilgrimage route in Wakayama, Japan, this article examines how the meanings and experiences of osettai ('religious hospitality') change over time and space. Focusing specifically on the role tourism plays in the current trans-formation of religious hospitality, the article begins with a historical analysis of osettai and its meanings in pre-modern Japan. Next, we examine how osettai was interrupted due to the decline in walking pilgrims, but also sustained through the maintenance of indirectly related religious practices. The discussion then outlines the transforming meanings of osettai from a practice of giving offerings in return for spiritual reward, to a commodified economic service and finally to a form of cultural exchange. We conclude that placing religious faith as a central theme of analyses, not tourism, can offer new insights and deepen our understandings of how religious hospitality is both transformed and maintained through tourism.

Psychological Impact Of Covid-19 And Prevention Strategies: A Buddhist Solution

As a major virus outbreak in the twenty-first century, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented risks to global mental health. Because of the severity of the virus, people were forced to isolate themselves and confine themselves to their homes. This was linked to people's inability to work, seek help from loved ones, and participate in their communities. Stressors that contribute to anxiety and depression include loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and loved ones, bereavement grief, and financial worries. As a result, covid 19 is a source of psychological distress. This paper investigates the impact of these stressors on all age groups in society, including today's youth, the elderly, and even health workers. Because Buddhism has a longstanding experience with medicine and preaches calmness and acceptance of fear, it is not surprising that Buddhist ideas come to the aid of those in need during times of crisis. However, it receives little attention. Thus, this paper focuses on theories such as mindfulness meditations, engaged Buddhism, and cultivating compassion, all of which can aid in increasing positive emotions and thus reducing stressors. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results is the property of ResearchTrentz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Higher Education Development and Student Mobility During Crises: From a Comparative and Historical Perspective

More advanced transportation and a much flatter world structure accelerate the internationalization process of higher education, and which also makes it possible for the virus to spread quickly around the world. [...]in the age of globalization, there are much more potential factors that may cause global/regional social crises. Harari (2018) proposed in his 21 Lessons for the 21st Century that human beings are now facing new challenges caused by global warming, big data algorithms, and terrorism, and "when the old stories have collapsed, no new story has emerged so far to replace them.” [...]although the nature of medieval universities still more or less influences the current higher education, while anticipating the future trend of cross-border student mobility, it seems more appropriate to use the premodern history as a supplement, rather than evidence for proving that history repeats itself. According to the university archives, "over 500 UNC students had been treated in the infirmary and seven had died as a result of complications with the illness” (Cozens, 2020, para. 10). [...]presently, the State of New York is still the second most popular destination for international students in the U.S., and New York University in the City of New York "has been the leading host university for international students” since 2013 (Zong & Batalova, 2018, para. 16).

Between the Tibetan Plateau and Eastern China—Religious Tourism, Lay Practice and Ritual Economy during the Pandemic

This article presents various institutional responses of Buddhist groups and leaders to COVID-19, adding a focus on how Tibetan Buddhist practitioners in China have responded to the pandemic. In particular, it examines the predicament of practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. The article focuses on the material characteristics of Tibetan Buddhism and how they were manifested among Han Chinese urbanites during the pandemic through (1) a teleological inquiry, which looks into the concept of merit (sk: puñña, ch: gongde) 功德, and (2) an organizational inquiry, which explores the modalities in which Han Chinese groups practice Tibetan Buddhism in the socio-political sphere of the Chinese state. Within this inquiry, the article deals with a Buddhist community based in Shanghai and an individual account of pilgrimage in Tibet. Based on these two case studies and their contextualization, the article aims to assess how the COVID-19 crisis has affected the practices, modalities and religious technologies of Tibetan Buddhism practiced by Han Chinese. The article argues for a degree of resilience of lay practice in Tibetan Buddhism;it stresses that while some aspects of the practice called for accommodations and change, the particularities of the practice have pre-existing conditions (such as state regulation on religion and the physical distance of their religious authority) which could accommodate the practical, sociological and psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2023 by the author.

Changing Funerals and Their Effects on Bereavement Grief in Japan.

Bereavement is an extremely personal feeling, but Japanese society tends to disapprove of displays of negative personal emotion or weakness. For ages, mourning rituals like funerals provided an exception where social permission was given to sharing grief and seeking support. However, the form and significance of Japanese funerals have changed rapidly over the past generation, and especially since the advent of COVID-19 restrictions on assembly and travel. This paper overviews the trajectory of changes and continuities in mourning rituals in Japan, looking at their psychological and social impacts. It goes on to summarize recent Japanese research showing that appropriate funerals are not merely of psychological and social benefit, but may have an important role in reducing or supporting grief that might otherwise require medical and social work intervention.

Psychological Impact Of Covid-19 And Prevention Strategies: A Buddhist Solution

As a major virus outbreak in the twenty-first century, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has posed unprecedented risks to global mental health. Because of the severity of the virus, people were forced to isolate themselves and confine themselves to their homes. This was linked to people's inability to work, seek help from loved ones, and participate in their communities. Stressors that contribute to anxiety and depression include loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and loved ones, bereavement grief, and financial worries. As a result, covid 19 is a source of psychological distress. This paper investigates the impact of these stressors on all age groups in society, including today's youth, the elderly, and even health workers. Because Buddhism has a longstanding experience with medicine and preaches calmness and acceptance of fear, it is not surprising that Buddhist ideas come to the aid of those in need during times of crisis. However, it receives little attention. Thus, this paper focuses on theories such as mindfulness meditations, engaged Buddhism, and cultivating compassion, all of which can aid in increasing positive emotions and thus reducing stressors. Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

Psychological Applications and Trends 2022

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2022, organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.), held in Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal, from 23 to 25 of April 2022. Modern psychology offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral standpoints), from this academic and practical scientific discipline, aims ultimately to benefit society. The International Conference seeks to provide some answers and explore the several areas within the Psychology field, new developments in studies and proposals for future scientific projects. The goal is to offer a worldwide connection between psychologists, researchers and lecturers, from a wide range of academic fields, interested in exploring and giving their contribution in psychological issues. We take pride in having been able to connect and bring together academics, scholars, practitioners and others interested in a field that is fertile in new perspectives, ideas and knowledge. We counted on an extensive variety of contributors and presenters, which can supplement the view of the human essence and behavior, showing the impact of their different personal, academic and cultural experiences. This is, certainly, one of the reasons there are several nationalities and cultures represented, inspiring multi-disciplinary collaborative links, fomenting intellectual encounters and development. InPACT 2022 received 364 submissions, from more than 35 different countries all over the world, reviewed by a double-blind process. Submissions were prepared to take the form of Oral Presentations, Posters and Virtual Presentations. 121 submissions (overall, 33% acceptance rate) were accepted for presentation at the conference. The Conference addresses different categories inside Applied Psychology area and papers fit broadly into one of the named themes and sub-themes. This book contains the results of the different researches conducted by authors who focused on what they are passionate about: to study and develop research in areas related to Psychology and its applications. It includes an extensive variety of contributors and presenters that are hereby sharing with us their different personal, academic and cultural experiences. [This document contains the proceedings of the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2022, held in Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal, from April 23-25, 2022. The proceedings were published by inScience Press. For the 2021 proceedings, see ED622091.]

The Role of Volunteerism and Buddhist Ethics for the Covid-19 Pandemic Response in Thailand

Thailand was the fi rst country outside of China where a case of COVID-19 was found when a tourist entered the country from China in February 2020. Still, as of now, the overall mortality there from Covid-19 remains much lower than in most other countries. What are the factors of this success? In this paper, we focus on the role of volunteerism and argue that its seamless integration into the Thai public health care system is founded upon the predominantly Buddhist religious culture in the country and corresponds to the cultivation of Buddhist virtues, such as compassion (karuṇā), and the motivation to do/make merit (tham bun). We suggest that Buddhist ethics and its habituation constitutes the key factor that underlies the coun try's strong volunteer culture. We address our topic by surveying the existing literature and conducting semi-structured interviews with seven health volunteers in May and June 2022. We deal with the possible objection that Theravāda Buddhism practised in Thailand is an individualistic religion and a rather negative motivating factor for volunteerism and effi cient pandemic response. © 2022,Caritas et Veritas. All Rights Reserved.

Sharon Bautista

"Everything is born from our mind, from our way of looking." These words may sound like they come from a designerly text on managing bias, but they are from the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen monk, teacher, and activist who passed away at the start of this year at the age of 95. Thich Nhat Hanh engaged with the world at national and global levels, for example, speaking out against war and the negative effects of the Information Age. He is equally known for his "micro" teachings on mindfulness for individuals and small communities. I found his writing as I emerged from the first two years of Covid-19 isolation, wondering whether I could remember how to interact with the world. Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's community of meditation centers and monasteries, started publishing a series of playfully illustrated, pocket-size editions of his most popular teachings about a decade ago. Over the past few months I have read five in the Mindfulness Essentials series, which continues to expand:

The Path of ‘No’ Resistance to Temptation: Lessons Learned from Active Buddhist Consumers in Thailand

Mindfulness practice and mindful consumption have increasingly attracted the interests of academics and the general public worldwide. Despite the fact that mindfulness meditation has its roots in Buddhism, little empirical research has studied mindfulness and mindful consumption from the Buddhist principles and from the perspective of active Buddhists who regularly dedicate themselves to Buddhist practice with the goal of achieving liberation from suffering. This study builds on and extends previous research that established a research agenda regarding how mindfulness could transform consumer behavior and lead to higher levels of well-being. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the ways in which active Buddhist consumers living in the city have disengaged from the consumerist culture and altered their lifestyle and consumption behaviors. To grasp the subtle complexity of the experience, fifteen active Buddhist practitioners were interviewed in depth. As a result of this, a Buddhist-based behavioral change model with seven stages is developed. Drawing on behavioral change models, such as the transtheoretical model (TTM) and the stepwise model of behavior change (SMBC), this model aims to demonstrate how active Buddhist consumers have transformed their consumption behavior patterns and overcome temptation without resistance. The transformative mechanism and consumer strategies were also extracted to provide lessons learned and management implications.

From Mental Health Crisis to Existential Human Suffering: The Role of Self-Transcendence in Contemporary Mindfulness

Our paper addresses the so-called college mental health crisis and the adoption of the strategy of mindfulness-based interventions. We offer a critique of their underlying medical–therapeutic paradigm by engaging the notion of self-transcendence in Viktor Frankl’s Existential Analysis and Buddhism in dialogue. We argue that the current mindfulness movement has decontextualized and appropriated mindfulness from its Buddhist foundations in favor of a model that offers objectively verifiable biophysical and mental benefits. Self-transcendence, whether from the perspective of Buddhism or Frankl’s work, offers what we feel is an existentially viable path forward for college students, in lieu of the current paradigm promoted by those advocating use of these mindfulness-based interventions. We conclude by considering Existential and Buddhist notions of self-transcendence in dialogue, suggesting they offer an educational practice worthy of implementation.

Pluralizing Mobility: Women Pilgrims and Wandering Bodhisattvas

In higher education internationalization literature, mobility has almost exclusively been analyzed with reference to study abroad for academic and professional development purposes. The cost incurred is an impoverishment of frames to guide the exchange student, to converse with the nomad scholar, and to make sense of knowledge from the borderlands. Not only has the COVID-19 pandemic been a shock to conventional expectations about mobility, but it has also presented an opportunity to engage with the justifications, ethics, and limits of travel, anew. This essay centers experiences of women's pilgrimages in medieval Europe and wandering Asian seeker scholars in the ancient world to invite inquiry into mobility as a complex, normative paradigm and an imaginative reengagement with its multifaceted implications for learning.

Law and Religion: Asia as Critical Ground for Rethinking Existing Frameworks and Dominant Paradigms

The first is illustrated by Benjamin Lawrence’s article in this issue of the Journal of Law and Religion: framing the starting point of any constitutional-state relations as entangled, rather than as separated. 4 His account of Buddhist monks in Cambodia seeking exemption from universal suffrage, as supposedly befits their politically neutral status, and the extent to which this is contested on the ground by a number of monks, suggests that one could not start to understand the complex interactions of Buddhism and the state through the lens of secularism as separation, which grew out of the historical context of a powerful church in competition with a powerful state. The study of such regulations would be critical not only for understanding but also for critiquing their impact on religious practices specifically and on society and politics more generally. 5 The methods and impact of state bureaucratization of religion, a form of direct regulation, was aptly explored in the JLR symposium “The Bureaucratization of Religion in Southeast Asia,” guest-edited by JLR co-editor Mirjam Künkler. 6 A regulatory or entanglement framework could further surface the multifarious ways in which religion engages the state beyond the usual, though always important, constitutional claims premised upon equality and freedom of religion. [...]contextualization should be a primary orientation for law and religion scholarship: lived experiences and thick description enrich our understanding of law. [...]to the extent that existing scholarship has employed a Judeo-Christian framework for the study of law and religion—a perspective that tends to emphasize textual authority, voluntary inner faith, and individual rights—the viability of such scholarship requires rethinking.

Buddhist Philosophy and Mental Health: Lessons for the 21st Century

AimsThe aim of this research was to highlight the aspects of Buddhist philosophy which may help to improve mental health. COVID-19 has had a considerable psychological impact on healthcare staff and the general population, emphasizing the importance of treatments and techniques to aid their mental health.MethodsMindfulness, Impermanence and Non-self were discussed as core aspects of Buddhist philosophy and how these relate to mental well-being. Reference was made to peer-reviewed studies that show the positive effects of these concepts.ResultsThis research highlighted the wealth of evidence that Mindfulness, Impermanence and Non-self has in improving mental well-being. However, there were also risks, including depersonalisation and increased anxiety in certain mindfulness practitioners.ConclusionThe findings of this research has generated new ways in which we discuss mental well-being and challenges our current understanding of suffering, providing individuals with further tools to assist with their mental health. This study challenges the idea that philosophy and medicine must be discussed separately and seeks to find further common ground between these two disciplines.

Knowing Our True Self and Transforming Suffering toward Peace and Love: Embodying the Wisdom of the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra

The biggest crisis that we are in nowadays is existential, which is the state of not knowing our true natures or our true selves;hence, we suffer from deep anxiety and we fail to find safety and a way to ground ourselves. In this article, we share our practical experiences of encountering and practicing the teachings of two important Buddhist scriptures: the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra. We show how both sutras, and especially their teachings on emptiness, allow us to remove our attachment to a sense of a separate self, which deepens our understanding about life, and transforms suffering toward peace and love. We further demonstrate the importance of meditation, contemplative chanting and reading, and experimentation with Buddhist teachings as pathways towards understanding our true natures. In sum, both sutras help us to go beyond the materialistic, capitalistic, narrow vision of who we are and to access the higher dimension of our existence, which allows us to discover our cosmic selves in the ultimate reality. It is through experiencing one’s true self that one gains a greater capacity to seek social transformation in times of crisis.

How Does Buddhist Contemplative Space Facilitate the Practice of Mindfulness?

This paper examines the spaces where Buddhist spiritual activity—specifically mindfulness practice—takes place, exploring how contemporary urban Buddhist contemplative places may benefit people’s mindful experience. Historical Buddhist contemplative places are examined through a literature review of Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist architecture and landscape. A case study of Kagyu Samye Dzong London, UK (KSDL) in the contemporary western context is then presented, drawing upon mixed methods (qualitative spatial analysis, questionnaires with mindfulness practitioners, and an in-depth interview with the director of the Buddhist center). This study investigates the relationship between the Buddhist spiritual activity of mindfulness practice and one specific physical space, exploring how the KSDL has been designed and is used to facilitate such mindfulness awareness and insight. Results suggest that quiet, solitude, and the presence of nature are three tangible spatial qualities that can facilitate mindful practice to some extent. However, additional relational or intangible qualities, namely the presence of The Three Jewels and blessings, are equally if not more important when sustaining mindfulness for Buddhist practitioners, and these contemplative qualities are more than “spatial”. Both the physical tangible qualities and intangible qualities are indispensable in the contemplative space and in influencing one’s practice. Findings evidence the importance of physical design and space for supporting contemporary mindfulness practitioners, whilst acknowledging that mindfulness emanates from—and can ultimately be discovered from—within.

The "Righteous Vaccinated" and the "Unrighteous Unvaccinated"? How Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara and the Gospel of John might help us understand the ongoing pandemic.

As the COVID-19 pandemic turns two how should those who feel like we have been responsible neighbors (kept our distance, worn our masks, availed ourselves to the vaccine) respond to those we feel have not been-and specifically toward those who have refused the vaccine as a sign of political loyalty? How might those of us tempted to react from anger cultivate an alternative response? This paper explores the texts of two religions traditions-Mahayana Buddhism's Bodhicaryavatara and Christianity's Gospel of John-searching for resources for a response other than anger and blame.