Abstract

This research is both quantitative and qualitative research. The purposes of this research are 1) To study the understanding level of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province 2) To compare the understanding level of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province by using individual factor as classification 3) To find the relationship between socio-psychological factors and the use of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province.

Representative samples in this study are 400 meditation practitioners who participated in 7 days basic vipassana meditation course at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province. Questionnaires and interview were used as research instruments to collect data. Data were analyzed by statistic program. Statistic methods using to analyze the result are percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation. T-test, F-test, One-way ANOVA and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations analysis were used to test the hypotheses.

The results are as follow.

1) Majority of the representative samples is female aged between 21 to 30, single, bachelor’s degree, company employee, income between 10,000 to 20,000 baht per month with less than a year of meditation practice period.

2) The understanding level of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province is high. Considering each different categories, understanding level of Kayanupassana, Vedananupassana and Dhammanupassana are high while the understanding level of Cittanupassana is moderate.

3) Meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province who had different age had statistical significant difference in the understanding level of the four foundations of mindfulness at level of 0.01.

4) There is a positive relationship between socio-psychological factors and the use of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province with level of significance of 0.01.

5) The interview about the understanding of the four foundations of mindfulness of meditation practitioners at Potiwanna Foundation in Chachoengsao province

For Kayanupassana, the meditation practitioners are mindful of the body and are self-aware of their body movement. The mind is in synchronization with body movement and breathing. When the meditation practitioners are focusing on present moment, they are aware of the present and nothing else. They will not be stressing over future nor thinking about the past. The mind is calm and not involve in the purification and defilement of the mentality, hence they have the ability to manage and terminate the stress.

For Vedananupassana, the meditation practitioners experience and are aware of every feeling both painful and pleasant ones. They understand that feelings are only temporary. The fact that they understand this lead to the ability to neutralize both positive and negative feelings, not immerse with the feelings. Therefore; when the stress occurs, the meditation practitioners will just know and neutral with the feelings that occurred.

For Cittanupassana, since the meditation practitioners are self-possessed and are aware of not only their current state of mind, but also their surroundings, be it beneficial or non-beneficial ones. They are capable of understanding and accepting the nature of their mind. Hence, they being able to handle and manage the stress by understanding and accepting as the reality.

For Dhammanupassana, the meditation practitioners have a deep understanding of Tilakkhana or the three characteristics which are impermanence, state of suffering and soullessness. The understanding of these three characteristics leads to detachment, perseverance and the application of four sublime states of mind to other people, meaning that the meditation practitioners will demonstrate loving and kindness toward themselves and other, show compassion and understanding toward people, sympathize with people around them, create equanimity in the mind by understanding, accepting and living the reality as it is.

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