Buddhist principles for human spiritual development of female prisoners at Chiang Mai woman correctional institution

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to study the female prisoners’ demand on human spiritual development 2) to identify Buddhist principles for human spiritual development of female prisoners and 3) to find out guidelines for Buddhist principle-based human spiritual development of female prisoners. The qualitative research collected data from two groups of samples including 15 experts on Buddhism and 288 female prisoners who were randomly selected from 1,151 female prisoners. The researcher conducted the in-depth interview with the samples and asked them to answer the questionnaires. The data were analyzed by using percentage, mean, and standard deviation. It was found that 1) female prisoners want to improve their knowledge and become a good sample for other people. They are aware of the value of being human and wish happiness to all creatures. They want to practice meditation 2) the principles suitable for spiritual development include benevolence, truth acceptance, three studies, four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. 3) Experts suggested that female prisoners should be taught about the value of life in order to help them to not bury themselves in their unhappy experiences. Therefore, monks should be invited to teach Buddhist principles to female prisoners.