Posted: September 7th, 2024

Religion plays a crucial role in cultivating

Abstract
Religion plays a crucial role in cultivating life purpose, societal values, and beliefs. However, many studies investigating the relationship between religion and subjective well-being produce different results depending on belief systems and culture. This study evaluated the impacts of Buddhist beliefs on subjective well-being and happiness among Chinese and American groups. The quantitative research utilized a between-subjects design to compare subjective experiences between participants from diverse cultural backgrounds. In addition, this research model utilized the wellness theory to measure subjective experiences from three metrics; positive emotion, engagement, and meaning to account for the benefits of religion on the lives of the adherents. The results showed that Buddhism increases subjective well-being by improving interpersonal connections, building communities, infusing meaning to life, and increasing personal autonomy. Nonetheless, more research is needed to isolate culture and religious differences on well-being and happiness among different Buddhist groups.

Introduction
Religion significantly shapes social interactions among different groups globally. Religious beliefs establish shared values, while rituals strengthen collaborative relationships. They also influence human motivations by defining achievement and affiliation standards among believers. As a result, people practice shared beliefs, create communities, and active societal engagement affects the subjective quality of life experiences. This research evaluates the benefits of Buddhism among believers in China and San Diego. Many studies on this subject focus on the religion’s impacts on mental well-being in regions with dominant Buddhist populations like Japan. However, insights from such groups do not provide an accurate picture of Buddhism’s impacts since cultural practices overlap with Buddhist beliefs in Eastern populations.
Consequently, this research isolates cultural and religious influences of Buddhism by studying American and Chinese Buddhists. Specifically, it highlights how Buddhist beliefs influence people’s cognitive, spiritual, social, personal autonomy, and emotional aspects of quality of life (QoL). The study will answer the following research question:
What are the benefits of Buddhism for adherents in China and San Diego?
This study is valuable because it examines how Buddhism influences subjective happiness among believers in diverse societies. Comparing two groups provides a comprehensive perspective on religion’s influence on subjective well-being across diverse cultures. This research also examines other benefits on adherents’ lives besides subjective mental well-being, which is extensively covered in other literature. Most importantly, it evaluates how religion intersects with cultural beliefs in different societies and how group dynamics affect life satisfaction. This aspect is essential because religious rituals, communities, experiences, and beliefs differ among Buddhist believers depending on location. Lastly, this study utilizes a sociological framework for the determinants of happiness to quantify the benefits of Buddhism on happiness.
Literature Review
Many studies on the benefits of Buddhism on mental well-being exists. However, findings on the religion’s impacts on quality-of-life experiences differ due to diverse methodological study approaches, culture, and subjective reporting. Consequently, this literature review section attempts to conceptualize the impacts of Buddhism on diverse populations by reviewing how cultural influences blend with Buddhist beliefs. Moreover, this section will utilize a standard framework to quantify the benefits of Buddhism on subjective well-being in the selected populations. The final section will summarize Buddhism’s benefits in the selected groups as highlighted in the existing literature to identify gaps in current research.
Establishing a framework for measuring subjective happiness and well-being is crucial to comprehending the benefits of Buddhism. Martin Seligman’s well-being theory posits that life satisfaction is quantifiable through positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. Positive emotion comprises feelings of comfort and pleasure, while engagement includes self-consciousness and flow when partaking in religious activities like prayer and meditation. The last dimension characterizes one’s willingness to believe in something bigger than one’s desires or transcending oneself. In traditional Buddhist beliefs, finding meaning required one to connect with nature and disengage from the pursuit of pleasure. Consequently, positive emotion, engagement, and meaning are measurable aspects of happiness, crucial to assessing subjective well-being in diverse populations.
The introduction of Buddhist beliefs in China began during the Han dynasty around 150 CE. Over the centuries, Buddhism was assimilated into Chinese culture and blended with other traditional belief systems like Daoism. Familiar Daoist beliefs eased Buddhism’s adoption as the new system reiterated Chinese cultural beliefs and new expansion methods. For instance, believers updated their beliefs about the universe’s structure, cosmos, and relationship with nature. Likewise, Daoist meditative practices influenced Buddhism’s growth trajectory in China as believers adopted concentration, contemplation, mindfulness, and visualization practices. Buddhist rituals help Chinese believers cope with life uncertainties by infusing greater meaning to common life hurdles. For starters, believers historically commemorated the dead by visiting temples and burning paper money and goods to provide better life experiences for the deceased in the afterlife.
Moreover, Chinese Buddhists believe that the spirits of the dead remained in the living world to provide spiritual guidance. This life cycle belief encouraged self-consciousness as people strived to live whole lives, improving individual and interpersonal relationships within the larger society. Traditional Buddhist beliefs got passed down across generations, and some variations – Zen Buddhism – are prevalent in modern society.
Buddhism benefits to Chinese adherents are assessable from multiple perspectives. First, Buddhism provides inner peace for adherents through collective practices like meditation and introspection. () observes that meditation improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and stress. Zen and other variations of Buddhism in China encourage believers to dissociate life experiences from unproductive thoughts through introspection, deep breathing, and yoga. Consequently, believers strive for the highest mental state, happiness, and inner peace, which increase positive emotion, meaning, and engagement. Secondly, Chinese Buddhism strengthens interpersonal connections through shared beliefs and experiences. For instance, Buddhist values emphasize kindness and compassion towards others, encouraging collaboration in reducing other people’s suffering. In other words, believers are extensively connected to the community without losing their identity or being inferior to others. This system creates a sense of belongingness, which improves mental well-being as individuals become part of the greater whole. Lastly, Chinese Buddhism encourages personal autonomy by emphasizing that people have control over suffering. The Karma idea encompasses people’s capacity to change life circumstances through responsibility. Likewise, such beliefs increase meaning, engagement, and positive emotion in adherents’ lives.
In contrast to China, Buddhist beliefs lack significant establishment in American history. Buddhism in America takes many forms and is highly correlated with secular western beliefs. The religion first came to America through Asian immigrants, who still comprise many American Buddhists. As the government eased immigration laws in 1965, Asian migration increased, and traditional beliefs from China, Japan, India, and Vietnam molded the new religion’s adoption. Consequently, American Buddhism includes a broad range of traditions, philosophies, and rituals ranging from Southeast Asia to India. Family traditions influence religious observance among immigrant Buddhists in America.
In contrast, Buddhist converts are primarily attracted by meditative practices and spiritual healing. Consequently, adherence to rituals is not mandatory among lay believers. That said, American Buddhism has six distinct traits, including a focus on meditative practices, parity for women, democratic ideals, openness to Western psychology, and social action. The deviation from traditional beliefs makes American Buddhism non-dogmatic. Consequently, secular Buddhism allows new converts to update existing beliefs with ancient wisdom to help believers live meaningful lives. Despite differences in rituals and experiences, American Buddhism also influences subjective well-being in multiple ways.
Secular Buddhism blends well with the American liberal view culture. As such, its societal influence comprises religions and non-religious benefits. Just like in China, the Buddhist idea of impermanence encourages mindfulness and living in the present. Adherents appreciate that life events are impermanent, and clinging to fleeting thoughts increases suffering when one’s cravings fail to materialize. Furthermore, impermanence beliefs restrict one’s unknown expectations, reducing emotional tension and increasing positive emotion. On the other hand, Secular Buddhism stresses nature’s interdependence and connections between various elements in the ecosystem. This viewpoint replaces human-centric views of the world, which are mainly discriminative of other elements to serve selfish interests.
Moreover, interconnectedness values show that everything is constantly changing, and slight variations in one element influence outcomes for others, increasing meaningfulness. Lastly, Buddhist values on suffering help American believers cope with life’s uncertainties and increase positive emotions. As such, adherents approach life with more confidence knowing that difficult times are unavoidable but impermanent. These beliefs increase well-being among believers by enriching social connections, strengthening personal autonomy, and increasing positive emotion.
Despite cultural and religious activity differences between America and China, Buddhism’s benefits are nearly identical in both groups. For starters, religion fosters inner peace through meditative and reflective practice. Inner peace cultivates mental well-being by increasing resiliency against suffering, while the religious community and rituals provide a sense of belonging. Moreover, the interconnectedness principle enriches life experiences by encouraging people to transcend the human-centric view of the world, increasing positive emotions and subjective well-being. Lastly, emphasizing the control of one’s mental states increases personal autonomy in both groups, reducing anxiety.
Methodology
Participants
This study comprised 80 adults from two Buddhist temples in San Diego and China. Participants were recruited through random convenience sampling due to the pandemic’s effect on travel and social contact. The researcher mailed questionnaires to the Jokhang Temple in China and the Buddhist Temple of San Diego, and adherents were required to sign an informed consent to ensure they understood the risks and benefits of participation and the ways their data would be used in the study. The Chinese sample group comprised 40 adults ranging between 20 and 74 years old. Females comprised 30% of the sample and males 68%, and one participant did not indicate gender. In addition, 90% of the Chinese group were Asians, and the remainder Caucasian.
On the other hand, the American group comprised diverse racial groups, including Caucasians, Asians, and African Americans. Females accounted for 28% of the total sample, while males took the rest. The age range for this group stretched between 19 and 55 years old.
Measures
Variables
Given that this study’s goal was to assess the benefits of Buddhism on adherent’s life regarding quality-of-life satisfaction, the research measured three variables; positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. These metrics are good indicators for happiness, as stipulated in the well-being theory.
Data Collection Method
Researchers primarily relied on surveys for data collection. This method was convenient since questionnaires are not restricted by geography, and they provide more response convenience for participants than interviews. Moreover, psychological assessment scales with good validity and reliability standards exist for the selected variables.
Tools
The first variable – positive emotion – was measured through the Self-Reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) (Grant, 2002). The 21 item scale measures multiple domains of self-worth ranging from engagement in self-reflection, insights, and the need for self-reflection. Participants rated each item on a six-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=Disagree 3=slightly disagree, 4=Slightly agree, 5=agree, 6=strongly disagree). This tool is appropriate due to its high reliability for self-reflection (.77) and insight (.78). Besides, the self-reflection scale has (.91) internal consistency and the insight scale scores (.87) compared to the less reliable Private Self-Consciousness and Insight Scale (PrSCS) with Chronbach alphas of (63). Consequently, this tool was most appropriate to quantify life satisfaction through positive emotion scores.
The engagement metric was measured through the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale (Hodge 2003). The six-item scale measures how spiritual engagement influences individual motives in theistic and non-theistic religions. Participants rated each item on a 10-point continuous scale to quantify the impact of each metric on individual and communal engagement. This tool is appropriate as it addresses validity concerns when prompts are administered to non-theistic populations. Moreover, the scale builds upon scientific work regarding spirituality to provide a wholesome perspective on how Buddhism influences the depth of engagement in adherents’ lives.
Lastly, the Meaning of Life Questionnaire (MLQ) helped quantify how Buddhism influenced meaning among participants. The ten-item measure comprises two scales, measuring the search and presence of meaning in one’s life. The tool helps researchers to conceptualize how perceptions in people’s lives influence their fulfillment and happiness. Participants rated each item on a seven-point scale (1=absolutely true, 2=mostly true, 3=somewhat true, 4=can’t say true or false, 5=somewhat true, 6=mostly true, 7 absolutely true). We selected this tool because it has a stable factor structure, good reliability, and validity scores. Besides, its use case was in line with the research question, and its ease of administration favored the pandemic situation.
Procedures
Chinese Group
The research team recruited study participants from the Jokhang Temple in China over seven days. English-speaking adherents were asked to complete the questionnaire after the standard procedure for reviewing the informed consent form. Researchers reviewed the study procedures and consent forms with potential participants before issuing the three questionnaires. Willing participants were then requested to read and sign their informed consent form and late allowed to fill the questionnaires at their convenience. The lack of supervision during the exercise ensured that responses were open and unaffected by the researcher’s presence. Moreover, allowing participants to return the forms when suitable ensured responses were well thought out and not rushed by submission pressure. Lastly, the researchers ensured all participants separate their informed consent and test questionnaires to encourage honest responses and uphold confidentiality standards.
American Group
Researchers recruited this group at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego in a week. Language screening was unnecessary as most adherents could converse in English. Consequently, the research team first reviewed the research procedure and informed consent forms with potential applicants, explaining how to respond to each prompt and providing consent. Wiling participants were then requested to sign the informed consent form, and the researchers issued the three questionnaires, testing positive emotion, engagement, and meaning. All participants were requested to fill the questionnaires at their convenience and deliver responses at their convenience through the temple or an email specified on the questionnaire. Similarly, researchers intended to solicit genuine responses by providing adequate time and freedom to complete the activity. Moreover, providing flexibility over the delivery method ensured that participants who do not consistently visit the temple partake in the activity.
Method
The researchers used cross-tabulation to assess data from both groups in Excel. This method eased categorical analysis between elements in the survey tests like variations in the presence and search of meaning among Chinese and American Buddhists. Moreover, cross-tabulation is suitable for analyzing quantitative data compared to alternatives like textual and narrative analysis. The research team analyzed each variable to establish the median and mean responses for each group and correlation scores between culture and religious benefits.

Results
The self-reflection and insight scale (SRIS) showed greater engagement in self-reflection among the Chinese group (.85) than Americans (.72). Moreover, American Buddhists posted lower scores on the need for reflection (.75) than the Chinese (.88). These scores positively correlated with self-awareness, measured through the insight scale as the American group averaged (.68) while the Chinese a mean score of (.88). Lastly, Pearson’s correlation analysis tests between the two groups showed that positive emotions are positively linked (.65) with Buddhism.
Secondly, the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale (ISS) showed that the American group had lower mean scores for transcendence and spiritual growth perceptions (45) and the Chinese (58) compared to the maximum score (70). Finally, Pearson’s correlation analysis tests between the two groups revealed a moderate positive relationship between Buddhism, personal autonomy, and self-awareness (.68).
Lastly, the Meaning of Life Questionnaire test showed that the Chinese group scored higher in the presence of meaning standards (30) compared to Americans (25). However, Americans posted higher scores for the search of meaning (30) than the Chinese (26). Lastly, Pearson’s correlation tests between the two groups revealed a strong positive correlation between Buddhism and the presence of meaning (.85) search of meaning (.91).
Assignment help – Discussion
Data Interpretation
The Chinese participants posted higher self-reflection scores compared to Americans due to multiple reasons. First, self-reflection practices are standard in China, as evidenced in Chinese folk religions and Daoism. Consequently, social pressure imbues self-awareness among adherents compared to America, which is more culturally diverse. Secondly, standard Chinese practices like introspection and meditation are perceived as coping techniques even among non-believers. This situation increases the need for self-reflection in China than America. That said, a large distribution of non-Asian Buddhist Americans are new converts from prevalent religions like Christianity. Therefore, they do not wholly embrace Buddhist rituals and experiences as secular Buddhism practices differ from the traditional religion. This disparity could also account for differences in the need to self-reflect between the two groups.
The Chinese group posted higher scores on the need for self-reflection since introspection is part of Southeast Asian traditions. Moreover, family rituals increase the need for self-reflection among Asians since it is a widespread cultural practice. In contrast, self-reflective activities like religious pilgrimages in China are not ritualized in American Buddhism, given the large secular Buddhist population. These differences affect self-awareness scores, as evidenced by lower insight scores among the less reflective American Buddhists. On the other hand, we anticipated a positive correlation between Buddhism and positive emotions across both cultures due to the emphasis on interconnectedness with nature, control over one’s mental states, and finding inner peace increase positive experiences. Moreover, new Buddhist converts in America adopt meditative practices and oneness values faster than traditional Buddhist rituals, contributing to more positive life experiences. Consequently, Buddhism increases subjective happiness for both groups.
The American group posted lower scores on the perceptions of transcendental experiences in the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale due to less adoption of traditional Buddhist rituals. As stated earlier, a large distribution of the sample population comprised Buddhist converts from theistic religions. Therefore, relinquishing personal autonomy for spiritual enlightenment is uncommon in the liberal western culture compared to Asia. Consequently, the Chinese posted higher scores as they have more engagement in traditional reflective practices like meditation, pilgrimages, and family rituals. In addition, Eastern cultural values encourage overcoming the self and finding inner peace. For instance, Taoism stresses maintaining inner tranquility while the Karmic concept motivates adherents to exercise more control over their mental states. Consequently, Buddhism motivated spiritual engagement among the Chinese group more than Americans.
The correlation between Buddhism, personal autonomy, and self-awareness was high because its values stress more deliberateness in life choices. For instance, the Karma idea links people’s outcomes with their actions. This stance is interpreted as a clause for more personal autonomy and power over outcomes. Concerning Buddhism’s suffering, Karma holds that people control their response to world suffering. These insights promote more self-awareness as people strive towards spiritual enlightenment in both groups.
Moreover, traditional Chinese beliefs emphasize personal autonomy while Western liberal culture influences individual action among Americans. Lastly, meditative practices in both groups promote personal autonomy, leading to a more significant correlation between religion and self-awareness in both groups. Therefore, Buddhism promotes personal autonomy among adherents, which enriches subjective life experiences. However, cultural influences also contribute to personal autonomy in both groups.
The Chinese group posted higher presence scores in the Meaning of Life Questionnaire because of greater engagement in Buddhist beliefs compared with new converts in America. Given that many participants in the Chinese group come from Buddhist families, embracing religious doctrines that occurred from younger ages and values like kindness and compassion towards other people increase presence and subjective well-being. Moreover, the Buddhist concept of being part of a whole rather than an individual component increases presence as one is in harmony with nature. This feeling increases life satisfaction and meaning. In contrast, the Americans posted lower presence scores regarding spirituality because a majority population was new converts. Transitioning between belief systems shakes one’s fundamental perceptions of the meaning and nature of life. This situation could have contributed to the lower presence scores because new believers reposition themselves in new belief systems. Likewise, the American group posted higher scores to search for meaning due to the spiritual transition between belief systems. () observes that the transition between religious belief systems triggers existential questions regarding the essence of life. This situation might have influenced the second group’s views on the search for meaning.
In contrast, the Chinese posted lower scores on the search for meaning parameter because extensive adherence to Buddhist rituals and experiences reinforces one’s life purpose. Consequently, participants were a bit neutral about uncertainties regarding the meaning of life since the extensive quest for spiritual enlightenment, Asian culture, and religious rituals infuse meaning into adherents’ lives. Lastly, Buddhism was highly correlated with the search and presence of meaning in both groups because its religious values cultivate inner peace, interpersonal connection, and self-awareness, which improve personal autonomy and resiliency to suffering. Consequently, Buddhism fosters positive attitudes towards the purpose of life among adherents regardless of culture.
Insights into Research Problem
This study provides a fresh perspective to the current research problem by linking Buddhist religious beliefs with culture among the Chinese and American groups. First, despite cultural and demographic differences between groups, standard practices like meditation and introspection increase positive emotion, communal engagement, and life purpose, enhancing quality-of-life experiences and happiness. Secondly, culture influences attitudes on personal autonomy and interpersonal relationships as much as religious beliefs do. American values on liberalism and personal autonomy coincide with Buddhist doctrines like Karma and control over one’s life experiences, for starters. Likewise, traditional Chinese practices like meditation and introspection are also present in Buddhism, and they collaboratively contribute to subjective happiness. Third, American Buddhism differs from traditional Chinese Buddhism, but both systems cultivate communal cohesiveness. For starters, secular Buddhism restores life purpose among new converts as they selectively adopt good values from different regions, including Japan, Vietnam, India, and China. On the other hand, traditional Chinese Buddhism maintains ancient rituals like Pilgrimages that increase spiritual enlightenment and life purpose.
Data Gaps and Research Limitations
Despite this study’s attempt to isolate Buddhism’s influence on subjective well-being from culture, it partially realized this goal since religious practices are part of the culture. Therefore, it is impossible to sufficiently attribute variations in transcendental beliefs and personal autonomy to Easers and Western cultural differences. Secondly, this research did not account for individual variations between participant responses in each group. Instead, it primarily focused on differentiating quality of life experience differences between the Chinese and American groups. However, there was significant variation in responses between participants from diverse cultural backgrounds, especially Asians and Caucasians in both groups.
Nonetheless, our findings averaged the responses, which undermines within-group variations. Thirdly, the Chinese group responses only comprised participants that could converse in English. This exclusion criterion leaves out traditional Buddhists who speak other languages, making the research findings non-representative from a broad perspective. Lastly, the sampling technique included participants from limited geographical locations, given that recruiting happened through two temples. Consequently, generalizing findings to a larger population might yield inaccurate data due to a non-representative sampling population.
Recommendations for Future Research
Future studies should take a different subject design to account for within-group variability to address the current limitations. For instance, conducting a qualitative study with a within-subjects design would ensure variations in responses among group members informs the conclusions. This metric will isolate individual preferences and differences from the standard group trend, increasing reliability. Secondly, researchers should translate the questionnaire to multiple languages, especially for the native communities, to ensure responses reflect the group’s culture. This measure further isolates cultural and religious influences on happiness, improving the validity of study results. Lastly, future researchers should follow a better sampling technique by including participants from different locations within a community. This measure ensures the sample group is more representative of the population, increasing result validity during generalization.
Conclusion
In summary, Buddhism improves subjective well-being among adherents. Religious beliefs, experiences, rituals, and the community increase positive emotion, engagement, and the meaning of life, impacting happiness positively. This research utilized the Wellness Theory to model happiness and life satisfaction between two Buddhist groups in San Diego and China. Despite significant cultural differences between the two groups, adherents experience positive emotion by being part of a larger community or fulfilling specific roles in society. The concept of oneness with nature increases belongingness, which improves subjective well-being as people feel more appreciated by their communities. On the other hand, beliefs relating to Karma reiterate one’s role in influencing life experiences, cultivating personal autonomy for both groups. Religious rituals are more popular among the Chinese group than Americans since most sample populations comprised new converts from theistic religions like Christianity. Most Chinese Buddhist believers come from Buddhist communities and are more likely to engage in religious rituals and practice sacred beliefs than secularized Buddhist Americans. Nonetheless, the adoption of self-reflective practices like introspection and meditation is widespread in both groups as they share similar desires for spiritual enlightenment. However, it is inaccurate to presume these benefits ensue from Buddhist beliefs since culture intersects with religion across societies. Therefore, future research designs should focus on isolating the cultural and religious influences of Buddhism on happiness and subjective well-being.

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