From Mindfulness to Non-attachment: A Science Mapping Study of Buddhist Psychology Research

From Mindfulness to Non-attachment: A Science Mapping Study of Buddhist Psychology Research | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article From Mindfulness to Non-attachment: A Science Mapping Study of Buddhist Psychology Research Quynh Nhi Le Ha, Trang Thi Thuy Duong This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objectives Buddhist psychology research has expanded rapidly but remains conceptually heterogeneous and difficult to synthesize across partially connected clinical, contemplative, and well-being subfields. This study maps the thematic structure, intellectual foundations, temporal evolution, and collaboration patterns of Buddhist psychology scholarship to clarify dominant research streams and emerging frontiers. Methods Following a Bibliometric-Systematic Literature Review workflow, we searched the Web of Science Core Collection (1962–2025) using the topic query (“buddhist psychology” OR (buddh* NEAR/1 psycholog*)). From 219 retrieved records, we excluded non–peer-reviewed formats, early access, non-English records, and tangential items, yielding 142 English-language journal articles. We conducted science-mapping analyses in VOSviewer, combining keyword co-occurrence clustering and overlay (time-zone) visualization with co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-authorship network analysis (with interpretability thresholds such as minimum publications for authors and minimum document counts for countries). Results Keyword co-occurrence revealed four interlocking thematic hotspots: (1) mindfulness, acceptance, and self-compassion mechanisms in emotional distress (stress, anxiety, depression, mechanisms, validation); (2) Buddhist psychology and meditative awareness (meditation, consciousness, awareness, psychotherapy translation); (3) compassion and empathy for health and well-being (prosocial capacities in clinical, health, and organizational contexts); and (4) nonattachment and Buddhist-informed well-being pathways (letting go, stress reduction, flourishing). Temporal mapping indicated a shift from early conceptual emphases (religion, consciousness, phenomenology) toward intervention- and outcomes-oriented research, with recent growth in mechanisms, validation, meta-analysis, and nonattachment. Conclusions Buddhist psychology is consolidating into a mature applied science anchored by mindfulness, Buddhism, and meditation, while increasingly advancing distinctively Buddhist self-related constructs, particularly nonattachment. Future work should strengthen construct clarity, psychometric robustness, and mechanism-driven, context-sensitive testing across populations and settings. Buddhist psychology Buddhism bibliometric analysis Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Appendix.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8492804","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":579564789,"identity":"a18d657d-55f3-410a-9730-86dd52ed9dc2","order_by":0,"name":"Quynh Nhi Le Ha","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA+UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgYeCMMAyDj8958NkMnYeACfFjZkLQd42NJAWhqI18LAw3YYzMGvhb334Ie3bYfzzKV7Dx6Q4Dlvt7b9MNCWGptonFp4ziVLzm07XGw551zCAQOJ28nbziQCtRxLy23ApUUix0Cat+1w4oYbOQYHEgxuJ5sdAGphbDiMW4v8G+PfcC0HEs4lm51/SECLBI8Z3JaDDQcO2JndIGQLT44Z0BvpYC2HGRuSE8xuAG1JwOMXfvYzxjfelFmDtBh/Zmywszc7n/7wwYcaG5xawICHoRnOTgSrTMCnHKKlDs62J6R4FIyCUTAKRh4AAHiJZ06NO8PUAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Quynh","middleName":"Nhi Le","lastName":"Ha","suffix":""},{"id":579564790,"identity":"f84c4770-0316-4d30-9af8-3c7877ea1e80","order_by":1,"name":"Trang Thi Thuy Duong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Trang","middleName":"Thi Thuy","lastName":"Duong","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-01-01 02:38:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101943138,"identity":"6ade28d8-4839-4f09-b354-2e7ddd4aae86","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-05 09:40:43","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":978307,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492804/v1_covered_107ba392-2846-4772-ae0a-3e480c71a755.pdf"},{"id":101888060,"identity":"c6f0cfd0-9aaf-45fe-97ff-855c712fde25","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-04 15:52:34","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":23759238,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Appendix.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8492804/v1/2133ba9ba35ba5138d472e36.docx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"From Mindfulness to Non-attachment: A Science Mapping Study of Buddhist Psychology Research","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Buddhist psychology, Buddhism, bibliometric analysis","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eObjectives\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBuddhist psychology research has expanded rapidly but remains conceptually heterogeneous and difficult to synthesize across partially connected clinical, contemplative, and well-being subfields. This study maps the thematic structure, intellectual foundations, temporal evolution, and collaboration patterns of Buddhist psychology scholarship to clarify dominant research streams and emerging frontiers.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eFollowing a Bibliometric-Systematic Literature Review workflow, we searched the Web of Science Core Collection (1962\u0026ndash;2025) using the topic query (\u0026ldquo;buddhist psychology\u0026rdquo; OR (buddh* NEAR/1 psycholog*)). From 219 retrieved records, we excluded non\u0026ndash;peer-reviewed formats, early access, non-English records, and tangential items, yielding 142 English-language journal articles. We conducted science-mapping analyses in VOSviewer, combining keyword co-occurrence clustering and overlay (time-zone) visualization with co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-authorship network analysis (with interpretability thresholds such as minimum publications for authors and minimum document counts for countries).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eKeyword co-occurrence revealed four interlocking thematic hotspots: (1) mindfulness, acceptance, and self-compassion mechanisms in emotional distress (stress, anxiety, depression, mechanisms, validation); (2) Buddhist psychology and meditative awareness (meditation, consciousness, awareness, psychotherapy translation); (3) compassion and empathy for health and well-being (prosocial capacities in clinical, health, and organizational contexts); and (4) nonattachment and Buddhist-informed well-being pathways (letting go, stress reduction, flourishing). Temporal mapping indicated a shift from early conceptual emphases (religion, consciousness, phenomenology) toward intervention- and outcomes-oriented research, with recent growth in mechanisms, validation, meta-analysis, and nonattachment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eBuddhist psychology is consolidating into a mature applied science anchored by mindfulness, Buddhism, and meditation, while increasingly advancing distinctively Buddhist self-related constructs, particularly nonattachment. Future work should strengthen construct clarity, psychometric robustness, and mechanism-driven, context-sensitive testing across populations and settings.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"From Mindfulness to Non-attachment: A Science Mapping Study of Buddhist Psychology Research","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-04 15:52:25","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492804/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"73df0f6b-4746-4c0b-8e19-275adb5a54f5","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-22T08:39:24+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-04 15:52:25","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8492804","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8492804","identity":"rs-8492804","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}