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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 9

Buddhist coping strategies across the participants’ the survey — such as how spiritual a person was, or
responses. As a result of this initial research, the team what age they were.
hypothesized that there were 18 major ways Buddhism
was involved in the coping process, and for each The seven were not selected for especial study out of
form of coping various questions were devised for a the total 14 strategies that had been identified because
questionnaire. they were most effective, but simply because the team
were most interested in those particular approaches.
In the spring of 2008, Dr. Phillips recruited 550 Buddhists The other seven coping strategies will be researched
from across the United States to take the Buddhist coping more thoroughly in a follow-up study.
questionnaire, which had been narrowed down to 95
items. Participants were asked to consider a stressful How much the participants had actually used each of
event, and rate how often they engaged in what each item these seven approaches correlated closely with how
said (for example: To cope with the stressor, how much did they felt about the outcome of the stressful event.
you remind yourself of the concept of impermanence? — Thus, meditating, practicing mindfulness, practicing

“Not at All” — “A Little” — “Quite a Bit”). ethical right action, lovingkindness, or considering the
Buddhist ideas of impermanence or karma were helpful.
The hypothesis that there were 18 types of coping
strategy within Buddhism was the first casualty — a The only exception was fatalistic karma — the more a
statistical analysis revealed there were only 14. person felt helpless and believed there was nothing they
could do about the stressor because their past actions
The seven Buddhist coping strategies that were studied led to the current situation, the worse the participant
further are: reported feeling about themselves, and the poorer
1. Meditation: Focusing in a relaxed, nonjudgmental the outcome of the stressful life event. While all of the
way on one structured aspect of a situation (e.g., other seven coping strategies were shown to have some
breath, mantra). positive effect, only fatalistic karma was shown to have
2. Mindfulness: Nonjudgmental awareness and a negative effect.
acceptance of the present moment.
3. Lovingkindness: Being nonjudgmental, Some participants reported to the researchers that a
compassionate, kind to oneself and others. fatalistic karma outlook is not an accurate portrayal of
4. Morality: Practicing right speech, right action, and how karma works according to Buddhism. However,
right livelihood, and doing these things with good the researchers are at pains to work out that they were
intention. not studying Buddhist theology, but the coping methods
5. Impermanence: Realizing nothing lasts forever. actually used by Buddhists (and believed by those
6. Comprehensive Karma: Acknowledgement that people to be a part of their Buddhist practice), whether
one’s past, present, and future actions will have or not those coping methods are genuinely Buddhist.
consequences, and that one has the ability to control They were therefore examining people’s perceptions of
his/her current actions. what Buddhism teaches rather than the “official”
7. Fatalistic Karma: Feeling a sense of helplessness, Buddhist versions of those teachings.
that one’s past actions have led to one’s current
state, and there is nothing one can do to avoid those Interestingly, meditation and mindfulness, although
consequences. shown by the study to be highly effective coping
strategies, were not as effective as practicing
The study determined that the participants’ answers lovingkindness, right understanding, and
on these seven forms of Buddhist coping did better impermanence, which jointly scored 3.1 out of a
at predicting how participants were feeling about the possible 4.0 for effectiveness, compared to a joint 3.0 for
outcome of the stressful event than other measures on meditation and mindfulness.