SMARATUNGGA: JURNAL OF EDUCATION AND BUDDHIST STUDIES

Enhancing Concentration, Symbolic Understanding, and Spirituality through Paper Clay Figurative Sculpture in Buddhist Religious Education for Children

Linawati Suwito — 2025-12-30

This study examines the effectiveness of figurative sculpture using paper clay as a pedagogical medium to enhance concentration, symbolic understanding, and spirituality among children at the Buddhist Sunday School of Vihara Jakarta Dhammacakka Jaya. The research addresses the need for more creative and experiential methods in Buddhist education, which often relies on verbal and ritual instruction. Using a qualitative Participatory Action Research (PAR) design, the study involved 15 students aged 8–13 years over two learning cycles. Data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation, then analysed using Miles and Huberman’s interactive model. Findings show significant improvement in students’ concentration (longer focus and calmer behaviour), symbolic understanding (recognition of the lotus as a moral and spiritual symbol), and spirituality (patience, reflection, and emotional regulation). The creative process served as a form of active meditation, integrating aesthetic creation with contemplative learning. This study contributes to Buddhist education and art-based pedagogy by introducing a humanistic and constructivist model that transforms students into active participants in moral and spiritual learning. It also highlights paper clay as an accessible medium for nurturing mindfulness in children. Despite limited scope and duration, the research offers valuable insights for integrating contemplative art into Buddhist education in Indonesia.

Artificial Intelligence Integration in Teacher Professional Development: A Buddhist Education Perspective in Paschim Bardhaman, India

Debdas Mondal — 2025-12-30

This study examines the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Teacher Professional Development (TPD) by analyzing teachers’ awareness, usage patterns, perceived benefits, and challenges in integrating AI into professional learning processes. The research aims to provide updated empirical insight into how AI enhances teacher growth, particularly in regions where technological adoption is still developing. A descriptive quantitative method was employed using structured survey questionnaires administered to in-service teachers in Paschim Bardhaman District, West Bengal, India. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics to identify levels of awareness and common perceptions regarding AI-based tools in TPD. The findings reveal that teachers show high awareness and positive attitudes toward AI, recognizing its potential to support personalized learning, improve instructional efficiency, and facilitate pedagogical reflection. However, actual implementation remains limited due to insufficient training, data privacy concerns, and uneven digital infrastructure. The study’s implications emphasize the need for stronger institutional support through continuous capacity-building, ethical guidelines, and equitable access to AI technologies. Such support is essential to ensure that AI can be implemented responsibly and effectively within teacher development systems. The originality of this study lies in integrating Buddhist ethical principles—sammā-diṭṭhi, sīla, and majjhima paṭipadā—as a normative framework to guide balanced and ethical AI adoption in education. This approach provides a unique moral-technology alignment that distinguishes the study from previous research.

Sharing, Not Saving: Buddhist Values and Digital Philanthropy in the Science for Tibet Campaign

Jitka Cirklová — 2025-12-30

This study analyzes how Buddhist values, digital communication strategies, and reciprocity-based philanthropy (sharing, not saving) are articulated in the Science for Tibet campaign initiated by Brontosauři v Himalájích (BvH). The research focuses on three aspects: how Buddhist values such as inclusivity, interdependence, and harmony with nature shape the organization’s identity; how digital communication strategies are employed within the campaign; and how volunteers and donors interpret sharing as a process of cross-cultural value exchange. Using a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital media analysis, the study finds that Buddhist values are not expressed doctrinally but through everyday practices such as ecological work, cultural preservation, collective learning, and knowledge exchange between Czech volunteers and the community of Mulbekh. The campaign’s communication strategy—which combines humor, everyday narratives, and non-paternalistic representation—proved highly effective in generating public engagement. Volunteers and donors interpret sharing as an equal exchange of knowledge, emotion, and cultural values rather than as a hierarchical act of saving. This study contributes to the development of more ethical, anti-paternalistic, and culturally sensitive models of digital philanthropy and offers novelty through a new analytical framework for value-based philanthropy in transnational contexts.

Impact of Dhammakāya Meditation on Mindfulness, Well-being, and Emotional Distress among Adults in the United States and the United Kingdom

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro — 2025-12-30

This study evaluates the psychological effects of Dhammakāya meditation on dispositional mindfulness, eudaimonic well-being, attitudes toward Buddhism, and emotional distress (depression, anxiety, stress) among adults in the United States and the United Kingdom. Motivated by rising mental-health concerns in Western societies, the research examines how a traditional Buddhist contemplative practice contributes to modern psychological resilience. Using a quantitative cross-sectional design, two groups—non-meditators and Dhammakāya practitioners with more than six weeks of training—were compared using standardized psychometric questionnaires and independent samples t-tests. The results show a clear pattern: practitioners report higher mindfulness, better eudaimonic well-being, and more positive attitudes toward Buddhism, while also showing significantly lower depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21). These findings suggest that Dhammakāya meditation acts as an effective self-regulation mechanism that strengthens psychological resilience. The study highlights the potential of tradition-based meditation as a complementary mental-health intervention and demonstrates that non-secular contemplative practices can be rigorously assessed using contemporary psychometric methods. Its originality lies in applying a scientific framework commonly used for secular mindfulness to Dhammakāya meditation and offering rare cross-national comparative evidence.

Representation of Trauma and the Practice of Metta in Memoirs of Survivors of the People’s War in Nepal

Badri Prasad Pokharel — 2025-12-30

This study aim to relationship between post-conflict trauma and the Buddhist practice of metta as represented in memoirs written by survivors of Nepal’s People’s War (1996–2006). The research aims to (1) describe how former combatants and civilians narrate their traumatic memories and (2) analyze the potential of metta as a culturally grounded mechanism for emotional and ethical healing in a society recovering from prolonged political violence. Employing qualitative textual analysis of six post-conflict memoirs, the study integrates trauma theory with Buddhist ethical teachings, particularly the Brahmavihāra, to identify narrative patterns and interpret survivor experiences. The findings reveal three central themes. First, traumatic experiences persist long after the end of armed conflict, manifesting through intrusive recollections, emotional fragmentation, and embodied fear. Second, individual trauma is closely intertwined with collective suffering, where disrupted social bonds and mistrust continue to shape everyday life in post-war Nepal. Third, metta emerges as an ethical counter-practice capable of moderating anger, grief, and moral disorientation produced by wartime ideologies. In several memoirs, metta-oriented reflections appear to reframe painful memories, facilitate forgiveness, and re-establish empathetic relations within fractured communities. The study’s implications extend to peacebuilding and culturally embedded psychosocial support. The originality of this study lies in its interdisciplinary integration of literary trauma analysis with Buddhist peace ethics, offering a novel interpretive framework for understanding trauma, moral repair, and reconciliation in Nepal’s post-conflict landscape.