ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Environmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1615963
The Effects of Chinese Buddhist Meditation Tradition: The Impact of Nature Observation and Literary Creation
Provisionally accepted
- 1Faculty of Environmental Science, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Japan
- 2School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
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Introduction: After integrating with indigenous Chinese culture, Chinese Buddhist meditation traditions expanded beyond classical rock meditation to include new practices. This study examines the physiological and psychological effects of nature observation and literary creation within Chinese Buddhist meditation. Methods: Experiment 1 recruited 30 participants and used observation duration, heart rate, the Profile of Mood States (POMS), and a supplemental questionnaire to compare relaxation effects across water (LS), forest (FS), and rock (RS) landscapes at a Buddhist temple. Experiment 2 recruited 30 new participants and introduced a poetry-creation task in the most relaxing landscape (LS) to test additional effects. Results: The water LS significantly prolonged observation duration (LS: 379.835 ± 47.528 vs. FS: 210.656 ± 15.284 vs. RS: 272.157 ± 25.450, 95% CI [65.638, 272.719], p = 0.000, ηp2 = 0.443, 1 - β = 0.985) and induced greater heart rate reduction (72.4 vs. 78.1 bpm at baseline, p = 0.001). POMS scores showed LS most improved negative moods (e.g., Depression-Dejection: −1.47 ± 0.38 vs. FS +1.07 ± 0.37, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Chinese Buddhist practices integrating water landscapes and poetry composition optimize relaxation (heart rate reduction: −7.3% in LS) and cognitive engagement, offering evidence-based insights for mental health interventions.
Keywords: Chinese Buddhist temple, Relaxation, nature, Literature, mental state, Meditation
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liang, Sun and Goto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Seiko Goto, Faculty of Environmental Science, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, 852-8521, Nagasaki, Japan
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