A multicultural retreat in exotic serenity: interpreting temple stay experience using the Mandala of Health model

ABSTRACT

Temple stay is a creative form of religious tourism in Korea that offers an authentic local experience at a Buddhist temple. This study is to describe the experiences of international participants during their overnight temple stay. Based on field research with in-depth interviews, this study result indicates that participants regarded temple stay as a multicultural retreat in a religious and therapeutic setting to promote their ultimate wellbeing. In the intersection of culture, religion, and tourism, this study offers a framework to understand the essence of temple stay experience to modern individuals based on the Mandala of Health model.

KEYWORDS:

• Temple stay
• religious tourism
• authentic experience
• international participants
• ecological perspective
• Mandala of Health
• Buddhism
• Korea
• qualitative approach
• health promotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from Kyung Hee University in 2018 [grant number KHU-20180935].