Abstract:
his dissertation entitled A Model for Promoting Holistic Well-Being of the ElderlyMonks According to the the Dhamma-Vinaya in Chiayaphum Province
has three objectives: 1) to study the enhancement of the elderly Buddhist monks health according to the Dhamma and Vinaya, 2) to study the states of problem on the elderly Buddhist monks health in Chaiyaphum province, and 3) to propose the model on the enhancement of the elderly Buddhist monks health according to the Dhamma and Vinaya in Chaiyaphum province. This is a qualitative research. Six districts in Chaiyaphum province, Bamnedgenarong, Mueang, Jatturas, Tepsathit, Sabyai, and Nongbuadaeng were used as the areas for the study. Ninety populations were also used. In this research, interview and focus group-discussion were also included to collect the data.
In the research, it was clearly found that in the enhancement of the elderly Buddhist monks health according to the Dhamma and Vinaya, two important things are mentioned: 1) the enhancement of bodily health where the perfect or balance could be practically carried out by Buddhist monks while taking food, walking meditation, going out for collecting arms-food and cleaning the pagodas field in order to move the body which would bring about the physical health, and 2) the enhancement of the mental health; this believes that the real happiness locates inside not outside; the mental problem is caused by defilements, it can be got rid of through the concentration. Suffice it to say that the mental problem can be cured through the only Dhamma medicine or chanting the Buddhist teachings whereby ones mind can find the relaxation leading to the extinction of tensions.
The states of problem on the elderly Buddhist monks health in Chaiyaphum considerably showed the following: 1) the states of physical problem are caused by the consumption of food without proper examination in accordance with the Dhamma and Vinaya which is out of moderation. Consequently, it has brought about some problem to the bodily health, to the environment where they could not perform their daily duty; they have bodily diseases concerning with heredity and its physical changes, 2) the states of mental problem are precipitated by mental anxiety derived from their behaviour, attitude, and tension, 3) the states of problem on the social health are caused by lack of certain body of knowledge resulting in not knowing how to take a proper care of oneself in accordance with the system of health care, and 4) the states of problem on the intellectual health are caused by the proper methods providing the solution to the existing problem; they do not have the proper understanding of methods for solving the problem involved, and sometimes they do not participate in the activity relating to the health care system of the community.
As far as the model on the holistic enhancement of the elderly Buddhist monks health system according to the Dhamma and Vinaya in Chaiyaphum province is concerned, four models are proposed by this research as follows: 1) in the model on the holistic enhancement of physical health, the Buddhist monks should realize the physical and mental health through Dhamma and Vinaya or disciplinary prescription, 2) in the model on the holistic enhancement of the mental health, the Buddhist monks should practice meditation in order to pacify mind whereby it would lead to the adjustment of emotion and attitude; the Buddhist monks need to have the good attitude in order to provide the role model in following Dhamma and Vinaya, 3) in the model on the holistic enhancement of the social health, the Buddhist monks should follow four kinds of development, the development in body, precepts, mind, and wisdom, and 4) in the model on the holistic enhancement of the intellectual health, the Buddhist monks need to follow the principle of threefold training, precepts, concentration and wisdom.