THE INTEGRATION OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY ON THE MAHǠSATIPATTHǠNA 4 FOR ENHANCING THE LIFE QUALITY OF THE ELDERLY IN THAI SOCIETY

Abstract

The purposes of this research were; 1) study the concepts of the development of the life quality of the elderly in Thai society in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, 2 ) Study the Buddhist philosophy on the Mah satipatth na 4, 3 ) Integrate the Buddhist Philosophy on Mah satipatth na 4 for enhancing of the life quality of the elderly in Thai society in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, and 4) Create a new body of knowledge and a model for enhancing the life quality of the elderly in Thai society. This research was a qualitative research using the philosophical research, dialectic and discursive methods under the analytic, appreciative, and application approaches. The presentation was by the analytical description. The results of the research were found as follows: 1) The concept of enhancing the life quality of the elderly in Thai society in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province towards a well-balanced quality of life under the development framework in 4 aspects: 1 ) living environment (Body), 2 ) family relationship (Feelings), 3 ) mental health (Mind), and 4) information perception (Mind-Objects). 2) The Buddhist philosophy on the Mah satipatth na 4: The Mah Satipatth na 4 are the main way of practicing one's self for the cessation of suffering leading to the enhancing of human life quality: mindfulness contemplation of the body, mindfulness contemplation of the feelings, mindfulness contemplation of mind and mindfulness contemplation of mind-objects. 3) Integration of the Buddhist Philosophy on Mah satipatth na 4 for enhancing of the life quality of the elderly in Thai society in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. The results showed that There are 4 aspects of integration, namely 1) the integration of living environment (body) to ง enhance the life quality for the elderly through the mindfulness contemplation of the body; 2) the integration of family relationships (feelings) to enhance the life quality for the elderly through the mindfulness contemplation of the feelings. 3) the integration of mental health (mind) to enhance the life quality for the elderly through the mindfulness contemplation of mind; and 4) the integration of information perception (dharma) to enhance the life quality for the elderly through the mindfulness contemplation of mind-objects by using the heart of the Mah satipatth na 4 namely energy ( tapi), awareness (sampaj no), and mindfulness (satim ) as tools for determining the present moment. 4) The new body of knowledge from this research is ELQ = EAM + MC4 Model.