Buddhist Priests’ Traditional Activity as a De Facto Community Outreach for Older People with Various Challenges: A Mixed Methods Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I'm glad you are aware there might be gender differences regarding the interaction between Buddhist clergy and the lay people. It would be interesting to know if nuns have different types of interactions with female laity and male laity.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Comment 1: I'm glad you are aware there might be gender differences regarding the interaction between Buddhist clergy and the lay people. It would be interesting to know if nuns have different types of interactions with female laity and male laity.

Response 1: Thank you for your review. Following your precious review comment, we added the below sentence in the limitation section;

“Regarding gender differences, the OECD report (Ferrant et al. 2014) indicates that un-paid care work is still predominantly performed by females. On the other hand, the WHO report (Boniol et al. 2019) indicates that the percentage of female in the health care profession is increasing. Given that our focus is on the care activities of Buddhist priests, it can be argued that more females should enter this field. Further research focusing on gender differences, especially on the interaction between the female priest and male/female laity, is needed”. (Line 307-313)

 

New references are added;

Gaëlle Ferrant, Luca Maria Pesando and Keiko Nowacka. OECD Development Centre. 2014. Unpaid Care Work: The missing link in the analysis of gender gaps in labour outcomes. Available from https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2014/12/unpaid-care-work-the-missing-link-in-the-analysis-of-gender-gaps-in-labour-outcomes_d26d4043/1f3fd03f-en.pdf

Boniol M, McIsaac M, Xu L, Wuliji T, Diallo K, Campbell J. 2019. Gender equity in the health workforce: analysis of 104 countries. Working paper 1. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article examines an unexplored tradition involving visits by Buddhist monks to laymen. Reviewing the paper, I found the author's responses to their research questions somewhat confusing. Did the paper address the origin of this tradition? Can it be said that the 'monthly home visit is purely a religious act'? It seems as though the author is using the underlying concept of the Bodhisattva in Mahāyāna Buddhism, which could have been referred to in the notes as an important implication if there is no evidence of similar practices in more conservative Buddhist schools. This could help the author to expand the scope of their study. Buddhist thought and social care is a fascinating field to which I encourage the author to contribute in the future.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It could be improved, as always, it could be. Your editors will do this work well.

Author Response

Comment 1: The article examines an unexplored tradition involving visits by Buddhist monks to laymen. Reviewing the paper, I found the author's responses to their research questions somewhat confusing. Did the paper address the origin of this tradition?

Response 1: Thank you for your review comment. The reviewer is definitely right to point out that we did not adequately answer the research question, “What is monthly home visit?” with a religious origin, etc. Therefore, I have revised the research question to "To Analyze the characteristics of monthly home visit from the perspective of health care, not religious studies, based on the perception and behavior of priests.” (Line 95-96)

 

Comment 2: Can it be said that the 'monthly home visit is purely a religious act'?

Response 2: Thank you for the review comment. We totally agree with the reviewer that purely is not appropriate wording when we are exploring the multifaceted value of the originally religious practice. We revised our manuscript as below;

“We report that monthly home visits have a multifaceted value; it is practical even when assessed through the methodology of medicine”. (Line 246-247)

 

Comment 3: It seems as though the author is using the underlying concept of the Bodhisattva in Mahāyāna Buddhism, which could have been referred to in the notes as an important implication if there is no evidence of similar practices in more conservative Buddhist schools. This could help the author to expand the scope of their study.

Response 3: Thank you for your review comment based on the deep insight. We added below note at the back of the manuscript;

“According to Ogawa (2022a), in Japan, monthly home visit is universally implemented in wide range of denominations including older and more conservative Buddhism. Considering that, as far as we searched, there are no previous research on similar practice, Buddhist priests' community outreach practice might be a phenomenon worth mentioning that represents one of the possibilities of Buddhist practice. On the other hand, in the areas with more ancient Buddhist traditions and more followers than in Japan, people tend to visit temples more often, the need for community outreach might be small. This is beyond the scope of our current research, and is the topic of further research.” (Line 490-495)

 

Comment 4: Buddhist thought and social care is a fascinating field to which I encourage the author to contribute in the future.

Response 4: Thank you for your encouraging comment.