MEDITATION JEWELRY: SYMBOL OF SAFE SELF AND PATHWAY TO PEACE

Abstract

This academic article aims to elucidate the role of jewelry as a mediating object that stimulates mindfulness through tactile engagement and focused attention, and to propose a design concept for meditation jewelry that enhances inner stability by cultivating present-moment awareness and supporting self-development in daily life. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from psychology, attachment theory, object relations theory, Buddhist psychology, and Personal Meaning Design, the study combines conceptual analysis with design experimentation and the practice of “meditational crafts” through bead-stringing and repeated knotting, allowing users to participate in defining the components and meanings of the jewelry from the outset of the creative process. The findings indicate that meditation jewelry co-created with users can function as a “psychic object” that fosters a sense of safety, reduces absentmindedness, and heightens awareness of body, feeling, mind, and phenomena in accordance with the four foundations of mindfulness, particularly through the technique of repeated knotting between beads, which requires concentration and brings attention back to hand movements and breathing. Beads made from natural materials or personally significant objects further evoke memories of relationships, change, and impermanence, resonating with the three characteristics (anicca, dukkha, anatta), the law of conditionality, and the Four Noble Truths, and thereby encourage a more coherent understanding of life as a web of conditioned processes. Accordingly, jewelry is shown to transcend its decorative function to become an instrument for meditation and spiritual healing, whose significance is co-created through deep embodied engagement of body and mind, offering a new conceptual pathway for designers and practitioners to integrate spiritual dimensions into both the design process and the everyday use of jewelry.