Effects of Vipaaasana Meditation Practice on Happiness of Adult Life

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental research was to compare the level of happiness in living before and after participating in the vipassana meditation practice project. The sample consisted of 34 adult practitioners selected through purposive sampling at Ayothara village resort, Ayutthaya province. Research tools were vipassana meditation course for 7 night 8 day and Buddhist happiness assessment for adults. Data was analyzed by using percentage, mean, standard deviation, confirmatory factor analysis and paired samples t-test. Results indicated that the components of happiness have 4 components which are 1) physical happiness 2) social happiness 3) mental happiness and (3) wisdom happiness with 46 indicators that congruented with the empirical data and the factor loadings of factors were high at the .05 level. Results of the analysis were Chi-square = .70, df = 1, p = .40, GFI = .99, AGFI = .97, RMR = .009. The happiness of life scores before and after was significantly different and the happiness in life scores after the experiment was higher than before the experiment with statistical significance at the level of .05.