A Qualitative Study on Mettā Practice in Conflict Management among Myanmar Buddhists
Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Taiwan
How they used Delve
A researcher at the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts used Delve to code five in-depth interviews with senior Myanmar Buddhist practitioners, running open and focused coding to identify themes in how metta (loving-kindness) is applied to everyday conflict.
“The thematic analysis was conducted by coding responses into open and focused codes, followed by theme identification aligned with the research questions and objectives. The researcher investigated manually as well as by using Delve software (Delve).”
- Field
- Buddhist studies and conflict management; metta (loving-kindness) practice among Myanmar Buddhists
- Data
- Private one-hour semi-structured Zoom interviews with five Myanmar Buddhist participants, all over 40 and all having passed the Abhidhamma, Visuddhimagga and other religious examinations, preceded by a two-person pilot
- Approach
- Thematic analysis coding responses into open then focused codes, followed by theme identification aligned to the research questions and objectives; a pilot test with two experienced practitioners preceded the main interviews for reliability, and analysis was done manually alongside Delve
- Data types
- Interviews
Abstract
As there are many conflicts in daily life, Myanmar Buddhists are also facing some conflicts in their daily lives. When Myanmar Buddhists encounter conflicts in their daily lives, it is uncertain whether they can manage these issues using mettā (loving-kindness), despite frequently reciting the Metta Sutta and practicing mettā as they interpret it. This article examines the ways in which Myanmar Buddhists apply mettā (loving-kindness) to manage conflicts as part of their daily lives. The research examines the fundamental values of saddhā (faith), vīriya (effort), sati (mindfulness), paññā (wisdom), and sīla (morality) to understand how to develop and utilize mettā in effectively handling conflicts. The study aims to explore the mettā practice among Myanmar Buddhist people by raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities in applying mettā. A thorough study of the mettā practice is therefore essential if one is to completely investigate the effective mettā application (EMA).
Citation
Khin Maung Kyi (2025). A Qualitative Study on Mettā Practice in Conflict Management among Myanmar Buddhists. Journal of Media Journalism & Mass Communication. https://doi.org/10.54536/jmjmc.v1i1.4960