Table Of ContentTaiwanese Married Women’s Lived Experience of Zen Meditation
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY
Hsin-Ru Kang
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Dr. Yvonne S. Gentzler, Adviser
February, 2014
© Hsin-Ru Kang 2014
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank:
My advisor, Dr. Yvonne Gentzler, and my doctoral committee members, Dr.
Laura Duckett, Dr. James Bequette, and Dr. Mark Vagle.
My editor, Peter Gunderson.
My friends, Joy Huang and Joseph Ko.
The faculty members in the Family, Youth, and Community Program, Dr. Jerry
McClelland, Dr. Jane Plihal, Dr. Ruth Thomas, Dr. Lynn Englund, Dr. Betty
Cooke, and Dr. Susan Walker.
All of the people who responded to my recruitment request, particularly the five
participants of this study.
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DEDICATION
I want to dedicate this dissertation to my God Jehovah. He has been with me
since childhood. Pursuing this Ph. D. degree was one of His plans for me. I also want to
dedicate this dissertation to my dear parents. They are from the old Chinese generation in
Taiwan and have lived hard lives. Family life plays an important role in developing our
inner wellbeing and I together with my parents and family experienced the problems that
caused me to pursue this line of study in order to help people improve family lives in the
future.
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ABSTRACT
Due to the impact of Confucianism on Taiwanese society, Taiwanese married
women play multiple family roles including being a daughter-in-law, wife, mother, and
working woman. Having to play multiple roles usually brings Taiwanese married women
burdens and stress. It is reported that Zen meditation improves people’s physical and
mental wellbeing. Zen meditation may be a good means for professionals to help this
group of women to improve the quality of their lives. No study has emerged concerning
this subject. It is useful to understand the phenomenon of individuals with similar
backgrounds who practice Zen meditation in their lives.
Based on the research interest, a descriptive phenomenological research design
was employed. The research question was: What is it like for Taiwanese married women
having roles as a daughter-in-law, wife, mother, and working woman to practice Zen
meditation in their lives? Open-ended unstructured phenomenological interviews were
conducted with five participants who met the research criteria and were able to provide
rich descriptions of their experiences. Recorded interviews were transcribed and
analyzed using a descriptive phenomenological method that was influenced by two
approaches as seen in the work of Amedeo Giorgi, and Karin Dahlberg, Helena Dahlberg,
and Maria Nyström.
Text analysis revealed a single structure consisting of six constituents describing
the essence of the phenomenon. The constituents that emerged were: (1) self-
transformation and personal growth; (2) opening the heart to the mother-in-law; (3)
improving relationship with the husband; (4) becoming a warm and respectful mother; (5)
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increasing work efficiency and helping people at work; (6) Zen as a way of life. The
findings of this study suggested four factors to be noted when Zen meditation isu sed as a
means to help individuals with similar backgrounds improve the quality of their lives. In
addition, the problems of Chinese parenting and the application of Zen to these problems
were discussed. Reflections on using descriptive phenomenology as research
methodology were also discussed. Finally, suggestions for future research in the field of
family education were provided at the end of this research report.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. i
DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1
Background of the Study ............................................................................................. 1
Research Purpose and Question .................................................................................. 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 6
Historical Context of Taiwan ...................................................................................... 6
Chinese Self ................................................................................................................. 6
Confucianism ............................................................................................................... 7
The Role of Married Women in Traditional Chinese Culture ................................... 10
Conflicts between Work and Family Life for Taiwanese Married Women .............. 15
Zen Buddhism ............................................................................................................ 17
Zen Meditation .......................................................................................................... 20
Research on Zen Meditation ...................................................................................... 23
Summary of Chapter 2 ............................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 25
Definitions of Phenomenological Terms ................................................................... 25
Philosophical Traditions of Phenomenology ............................................................. 27
Philosophical Method of Descriptive Phenomenology ............................................. 30
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Issues of Validity in Phenomenology ...................................................................... 32
Rationale for the Use of Descriptive Phenomenology ............................................. 33
Self-Reflection ........................................................................................................... 35
Guidelines for Phenomenological Research .............................................................. 37
Pilot Interviews .......................................................................................................... 38
Participant Recruitment ............................................................................................. 41
Participant Profiles .................................................................................................... 42
Interview Process ....................................................................................................... 44
Text Development ..................................................................................................... 45
Text Analysis ............................................................................................................. 46
CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSION OF PHENOMENON ........................................................ 53
Structure of Taiwanese Married Women’s Lived Experience of Zen Meditation .... 53
Constituents of the Lived Experience ........................................................................ 54
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION OF CONSTITUENTS ..................................................... 58
Constituent #1: Self-Transformation and Personal Growth ...................................... 58
Constituent #2: Opening the Heart to the Mother-In-Law ........................................ 68
Constituent #3: Improving Relationship with the Husband ...................................... 75
Constituent #4: Becoming a Warm and Respectful Mother ...................................... 83
Constituent #5: Increasing Work Efficiency and Helping People at Work ............... 90
Constituent #6: Zen as a Way of Life ........................................................................ 97
Summary of Chapter 5 ............................................................................................... 99
CHAPTER 6: REFLECTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ............................................... 100
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Using Zen Meditation to Help Taiwanese Married Women .................................. 100
Bringing Zen to Chinese Parenting ....................................................................... 107
Descriptive Phenomenology as Research Methodology ........................................ 111
Future Research for the Field of Family Education ............................................... 116
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 119
APPENDIX A: Consent Form ....................................................................................... 132
APPENDIX B: Chinese Consent Form ......................................................................... 135
APPENDIX C: Interview Questions ............................................................................. 137
APPENDIX D: Chinese Interview Questions ............................................................... 138
APPENDIX E: Meaning Units (Clusters of Similar Meanings ).................................... 139
APPENDIX F: Determining Constituents from Meaning Units (Derived from Appendix
E) ..................................................................................................................................... 140
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CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
This dissertation is a descriptive phenomenological study guided by the following
research question: What is it like for Taiwanese married women having roles as a
daughter-in-law, wife, mother, and working woman to practice Zen meditation in their
lives? My goal for this study was to discover the essence of the phenomenon of
Taiwanese married women’s lived experience of Zen meditation. The purpose of the first
chapter is to frame the phenomenon as it was investigated in this study. This chapter
begins with a description of the background of the study and concludes with the research
purpose and question.
Background of the Study
Chinese cultural values predispose Taiwanese married women to play multiple
family roles in their lives and the burden from these roles tends to make their lives
stressful (Chang, 2009; Chao, 2005; Chao & Roth, 2000; Chen, 2007; Wang, 2000; Wu,
2006; Wu, 2008). Historically, Taiwan was part of China and has preserved most of the
Chinese culture and heritage. Accordingly, Taiwanese women inherit traditional Chinese
cultural values. One particular value that still remains is that a married woman needs to
devote all of her life to caring for her husband’s family (Yu, Liaw, & Barnd, 2004).
Taiwanese married women usually need to play multiple roles in the family and
consequently live busy lives.
People everywhere are shaped and influenced by larger social and cultural
contexts. Traditional Chinese culture advocates a collective perspective where
