Pseudo-Spiritual Qigong

[Dainin]

The following article by Linhai appeared in the Sacred Journeys 2003 newsletter. I think that he raises some valuable points worth considering. The original may be found at: http://www.sacredjourneys.org/newsletter/news03.html

 

 

Pseudo-Spiritual Qigong

 

Pseudo-spiritual qigong has many good health and meditation benefits but rarely does it lead to enlightenment or liberation. It can also be extremely dangerous and has led to many physical and mental illnesses, murder, and even mass suicide. Pseudo-spiritual qigong has been created by new age qigong charlatans that use the ancient knowledge of the Buddhists and Daoists, not for spiritually liberating themselves or their disciples, but to increase their own wealth and fame.

 

The Propaganda

 

All of the pseudo-spiritual qigong charlatans create their own systems of qigong they call a Gong. This way they don't represent any traditional lineage and can say what ever they want without any repercussions from the official qigong or religious community. Their biographies are full of self-aggrandizing propaganda and once they come to America they exaggerate even more because they know you can't verify a single word of it. One recent arrival called Master Fu for instance claims he's the father of qigong, a qigong wizard, a Buddhist and Daoist lineage holder and has been given the title of Medicine Buddha back in China. He says he has millions of disciples, his ancestors worked in the royal Qing Court, he's the personal doctor of Chinese dignitaries such as president Deng Xiaoping, he's a martial arts master, and that he has super natural powers. It all sounds extraordinary but none of it is true. Li Hong Zhi of Fa Lun Gong goes even further by claiming to be the supreme master in the world much higher than Jesus, Laozi or the Buddha. Qigong propaganda always sounds to good to be true and that's because it usually isn't. Even though they claim their knowledge comes from the Buddhists and Daoists how come you never see real monks making such claims? The second precept of Buddhism and Daoism is No Lying.

 

Their Demonstration of Spiritual Power

 

Pseudo-spiritual qigong masters love to demonstrate their super natural power for wealth and fame. "Masters" like Fu Wei Zhong demonstrate their spiritual power by burning coins or paper with their qi energy. Make participant's left hand longer than their right one, bend keys and silverware with their mental power. Read information from a cup of water and numbers in sealed envelopes, and diagnose diseases by looking into patient's bodies with their x-ray vision to demonstrate how open their third eye is. They love to create healing energy fields where the lame get out of wheelchairs and "walk again" to demonstrate their super spiritual healing powers. Others like to channel electricity through their bodies to show the power of their dantien. Some like to push people around with their qi transmission, and some can burn their patient's body using tin foil their qi is so hot.

 

Revealing The Tricks of Their Trade

 

What the "Master" didn't tell you when he was demonstrating his spiritual power is that he put phosphorous on the aluminum Chinese coins to make them burn. He ground up matches and sprinkled it on the paper before rubbing it together to set it on fire. He put red phosphorous on his hand to make them glow red. He has a special qigong disciple tell him the secret number in the envelop or who transmitted the qi energy into the cup of water by using hand signals like a baseball catcher. He uses face diagnosis and calls it x-ray vision. He pays people to get out of wheel chairs or to act like they've been healed or possessed to demonstrate his super natural healing powers. When pushing people around with their qi the master moves his hands in coordination with their movements to make it look like he's pushing them. Anybody can channel electricity through their body and it has nothing to do with the power of their dantien. When you put phosphorous on aluminum foil it gets very hot and patients feel the heat but it too has nothing to do with their qi, it's just a chemical reaction. The funny thing about all of these super duper qigong demonstrations is that anybody can learn how to perform these magic tricks in about an hour and none of them have anything to do with real qigong. The qigong charlatans always claim to have Buddhist and Daoist secret powers but isn't it funny how you never see real Buddhist and Daoist monks performing these mystical feats of spiritual power? Is it because they don't have the spiritual power to perform them or is it because they know that using a religious pretext to trick people out of their money only leads to rebirth in the deepest of Avichi hells?

 

Pseudo-Spiritual Hypnotism

 

Where the above tricks are the techniques of simple qigong charlatans, "hypnotism is the ultimate power of the pseudo-spiritual qigong master". They prefer mentally unstable people, the down and out, and single women in their early fifties because it's easier to get them emotionally excited especially during the healing energy field demonstrations and to control them once they become disciples. The very first thing that all pseudo-spiritual qigong charlatans do is use real qigong to get their audiences to experience qi and feel healthier, happier, and blissful. Once the real qigong is making them feel good the "master" adds on the hypnotism by using subtle suggestions, situations, images, sounds and movements to get them under their influence. Depending on the group things can get really crazy. Once the energy starts flowing they have their helpers excite the crowd by pretending to get emotional, crying, laughing, moving around like they're possessed, getting healed, or getting out of wheel chairs and "walk again". Sometimes unsuspecting people will feel the energy, and also get excited, emotional, and can have a real spontaneous healing experiences which is exactly what the master hopes for, yet he never has to transmit one ounce of his own qi the whole time. A few masters even do it from abroad when they're on vacation. They call up their studio and tell their disciple he's going to start transmitting the qi. Though the "master" just rolls over and goes back to sleep or out to dinner the people's expectations excited by his helpers and maybe a full moon and participants really think they're having a mystical experience.

 

The Death of Qigong

 

Qigong is a very real phenomenon but pseudo-spiritual qigong, the tricks, the hypnotism and the cult was a big fad in China during the late eighties - early nineties but have died out after many people began to go crazy, dismember themselves, and even commit suicide in mass. Pseudo-spiritual qigong masters are not grounded in the foundational principles themselves and several of them went crazy too. With their new found money and power they got caught in scandals and all the illicit activities you can imagine. Some of them even dared to get political and as we have seen recently in Waco, Texas any spiritual organization that thinks they can butt heads with a government already suffers from delusions of grandeur. That's why the Buddha said to work within the laws of society to harmonize your environment.

 

Of all the recent pseudo-spiritual qigong organizations Fa Lun Gong has become the most famous and the most embarrassing to the traditional qigong and religious community. In the beginning it was nice to see how dedicated their practice was sitting in meditation before practicing their morning qigong exercises. Then they started going around the parks pushing their propaganda, books and products on everyone trying to get you to join their organization. They became even more annoying than the Krishnas and Moonies that sold flowers in the airport during the sixties. Fa means the Buddha Dharma and proselytizing anything especially religion is against the Buddha Dharma law because you take something very sacred and make it bad when when you push it on other people. To offer is different than to push. In combination with the mass marketing they held mass demonstrations with lots of magic as we mentioned above and opened centers all over the place where people could become indoctrinated into Fa Lun Gong and accept Li Hong Zhi as their savior. As the money poured in Li Hong Zhi bought lots of luxury houses and cars and even put up giant billboard advertisements on the street of himself in the image of the Buddha, Laozi or Jesus. Qigong creates lots of energy and if grounded in the fundamental principles can destroy the ego which is the root cause of samsara and the suffering of sentient beings. If not grounded in the foundational principles the energy of qigong can inflate the ego and easily cause further problems. For what ever reason Li Hongzhi demanded equal religious status as Buddhism, Daoism and Christianity from the Chinese government and held a mass demonstration in front of China's capital building in Beijing. When the government looked into who this Li Hong Zhi and Fa Lun Gong really was they found out he was running a billion dollar multi-level marketing scheme and yet never paid any taxes.

 

People in China are free to believe in what ever they want to as long as their organization is not breaking the law but when Li Hong Zhi told his disciples not to take their doctor prescribed medicine over a thousand of them died even though he and his family still made regular hospital visits and took their doctor prescribed medicine. Then another thousand disciples plus have committed suicide to demonstrate their faith to Li Hongzhi and many have been committed to psychiatric hospitals as well. Last summer five Fa Lun Gong disciples entered Tian An Men square and set themselves on fire. They all died except one mother's baby girl who barely survived and will be physically and mentally disabled for the rest of her life. When any organization has people dieing in mass they loose the right to call themselves a real religion and become labled a cult. Though Li Hongzhi is wanted to stand trial in Beijing to address these issues he now lives in America protected by the US government as an example of China's lack of human rights and religious freedom. However, if you ever go to China you will see more qigong organizations, temples, monks and spiritual masters than anywhere else in the world. Just go and see for yourself. With tens of thousands of legitimate qigong, and religious organizations in China why is it that only the geo-political or pseudo-spiritual organizations like Fa Lun Gong that have a problem with the government? Is it really the government that has the problem, or is it the geo-political and pseudo-spiritual organizations that have the problems? China has just been recuperating from the Cultural Revolution and organizations like these only creates further set backs to the legitimate organizations that are doing really good work.

 

If qigong is not grounded in the foundational principles of Bodhicitta, the Four Noble Truths, the Eight Fold Path, The Ten Parimitas and so on then disasters can easily occur. The ancients have told us many times that only by following a teacher with true enlightened qualities can the results of enlightenment be obtained. Practicing Guru Yoga by following a qualified master with faith, love and devotion is the swiftest path to enlightenment. Yet, if the master is a charlatan then it can be the swiftest path to the lower realms. When you turn your mind over to someone else it is like getting on a bus. Where it ends up has more to do with the driver than the passenger once you get on board. So be careful and don't get on the wrong bus. There are however a few exceptions to the rule where students have followed a charlatan master and due to the power of their own virtue and cultivation have reached enlightenment while the charlatan master went to the hell realms. There is a famous story about the Buddha's tooth of Zhejiang. A Buddhist patron mother gave her son a majority of her wealth to go and get a relic of the Buddha. He squandered her wealth all over the Far East and on his way home empty handed he saw a dead dog on the side of the road and had an idea. He took out a tooth from the dog and brought it to his mother and said, "look mom I have a tooth of the Buddha," where upon she instantly reached enlightenment due to the power of her own faith.

 

Not every follower of a charlatan master has been so lucky so be open minded but skeptical, and look out for the smoke and mirrors. Just because a master has power doesn't means he has virtue. There is an old Chinese saying, "the one with the biggest sign usually has the smallest Kungfu". So, Caveat Emptor!!! If it sounds too good to be true then chances are isn't true. If they're demonstrating super natural powers like burning coins with the power of their qi then think twice before getting on their bus. Besides what is so good about having even real super natural powers if it can't really help sentient beings. Once the Buddha Shakyamuni was walking along the side of a lake when a yogi walking on the water yelled out, "hey look Shakyamuni I can walk on water". The Buddha shook his head and replied, "ah, too bad. If he only spent that much effort trying to reach enlightenment he would have definitely obtained it by now".

 

All sentient beings including charlatan masters have the Buddha nature. They've just taken a wrong turn in the road. If you have been duped by one don't be resentful but have pitty on him for he will be spending time in the lower realms. Don't feel sorry for yourself either because it was your own karma that brought you to him in the first place. By not having any bad feelings towards him or yourself the karma becomes purified into the vast expanse and the experience can become a catalyst for genuine enlightenment. By applying the diamond view that all circumstances both positive and negative are mere expressions of the One Absolute Nature, enlightenment becomes possible in every thought, action and circumstance.

Edited December 16, 2011 by Dainin

[Mokona]

The gullible had better be careful!

[thelerner]

I agree with much of the article, but in some ways I think it over reaches. As if it was written by the Chinese government as an anti Falun Gung piece.

 

I think the 'power pushers' tend to be more likely illegitimate, but I don't think in most cases its a 'reefer madness' situation.

[Gauss]

[Dainin]

Just to let you know, although the author uses a Chinese name, he is not Chinese. He is a white American from New York who has travelled extensively in China and Tibet for about 30 years. It seems as if anyone criticizes Falun Dafa or Li Hongzhi, they are immediately labelled by Falun advocates as communist party sympathizers, which is not a logical inference. I would encourage anyone interested in this system to read both pro and con perspectives and draw their own conclusions.