Breaking Through
the Barriers of Darkness: Recognizing the Cult of Qigong for
What It Is
Chapter 6
The Danger of Qigong
"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son
or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery,
interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells,
or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD,
and because of these detestable practices the LORD your
God will drive out those nations before you" (Deut.
18:10-12).
1. The Danger of Qigong to Its Practitioners
After we have understood the principles and
essence of qigong, we know that it is extremely dangerous
and harmful to the practitioners themselves, their families,
the society and the culture. When a new religion has been
newly started by evil spirits, it breaks out with tremendous
force and victimizes a lot of people severely.
Among all the harms it does, that done to the
practitioners themselves is the greatest and the most direct.
I practiced qigong for about ten years. I can hardly bear
to recall my experiences with it. I have deeply experienced
the danger of qigong and the cunning and viciousness of the
evil spirits associated with it. I have also witnessed many
qigong practitioners just like myself, who are helplessly
entangled in the hellish quagmire of qigong. They are desperately
swallowing the bitter fruit they have planted within themselves.
They are like blind slaves weeping in the dark, not knowing
there is light in the world.
The harm qigong causes its practitioners is
reflected in their worldviews, views of life, moral values,
character, personalities, spirituality, consciousness, thinking
modes, and practical lives. We will discuss in the present
section in detail the harm qigong does to its practitioners.
Please be aware that the various kinds of harm discussed below
are comprehensive and are inclusive of the situations faced
by practitioners of all levels.
The Dangerous Influence of Qigong on Its Practitioner's Worldview
For people who do not have any religious beliefs
or who have very vague worldviews or views of life, qigong
is tremendously dangerous. Qigong was started at a time when
most Chinese had lost all beliefs. Atheism was the main worldview
for most people. I started to practice qigong precisely at
that time.
The first experience people get with qigong
is the "qi" sense. What follows immediately is the
magical healing of diseases. This inflicts a great shocking
effect upon the practitioner's mind. Since people cannot find
out why, they accept very naturally the theories of qigong
gong methods as the only theoretical explanation available.
Hence, the concept that there is a mysterious "qi"
existing in human bodies is accepted. Qigong theories explain
"qi" as a fundamental life matter existing in human
bodies and the natural world. They hold that it is consistent
with the theories of Chinese medicine. "Qi" runs
in the channels of human bodies and thus opens up blocks built
up in them and heals diseases in this way.
As the gong practice goes deep, the practitioner
can emit "qi" and achieve great effect in the healing
of other people's diseases. The practitioner thus further
experiences the power and incomprehensible mystery of "qi."
Because the practitioner feels debilitated after emitting
"qi," it seems to comply with the theory that holds
"qi" as an essential energy of the human body. The
practitioner then practices harder, hoping to get more real
"qi" and expecting to obtain energy-carrying "qi".
The evil spirits come gradually then into deep contact with
the practitioner.
When supernormal phenomena start to happen to the practitioners,
phenomena like hearing or seeing something, they will find
that many of these phenomena tally with the folk beliefs of
ghosts and gods. Atheism begins to shake, and qigong theories
become authoritative. Qigong explains those strange phenomena
as good things and as information.
As the practitioner still furthers his practice
of qigong, he/she begins to attain supernormal capabilities
and is able to "emit gong" to heal the diseases
of other people. It is no longer the method of "qi-emitting."
Supernormal capabilities cause most people to give up their
materialistic view, for qigong is mainly guided by consciousness
and has imagination as its method of practice. This is a very
different from the atheism and materialism instilled in the
Chinese. What should people believe in? Of course, they choose
to believe the facts and their own experiences and logic.
They thus accept the traditional belief in ghosts and gods
and the qigong theories that can explain these phenomena.
After reaching the above realm of qigong, its
practitioners start to reflect on the principles of the world
and the universe and of ghosts and gods. Though they do not
as yet have any systematic theory which provides a clear explanation,
they have already rejected their atheistic view. They now
believe in ghosts and gods and become theists. According to
my investigation and logical analysis, most qigong practitioners
hold that ghosts and gods in all religions are the same. For
many reasons these people's view of ghosts and gods has not
become of representative of all qigong philosophical theory.
Some other qigong practitioners still hold
that qigong is a "science" and "materialistic."
They take the so-called ghosts and gods as the information
and energy of humankind and of the natural world. They too
begin to hold reverence for the ghosts and gods and idols
in the traditional religions. They consider ghosts and gods
and idols as reflections and communications of information,
hence worshipping of these idols brings good information and
upgrades gong power. They do not regard these different happenings
as results of the ghosts and gods' doings, but as caused by
information that has come from man and the universe. Though
they do not believe in ghosts and gods, they have already
started to worship the evil spirits and idols. The materialistic
and atheistic mode of thinking, adulterated with theory about
ghosts and gods, produces a very characteristic worldview
of qigong, with its main features being worshipping
the mystery of the universe and humans themselves and the
concept of not believing in, yet worshipping, ghosts and gods.
Hence the materialistic and atheistic mode of thought
holds that all the ghosts and gods in all religions are mere
superstitious terms and that they can all be explained in
terms of qigong. According to this view, many founders of
religion are qigong masters. In this theory, words like "mysterious",
"abstruse" are very frequently used. The
concept of perceptual knowledge is the principal part of qigong
theory. In a word, qigong is regarded as scientific
and materialistic. This view is the leading theory among contemporary
practitioners of qigong in China, and it is a theory that
can be taught without violating the law.
Harms to the Practitioner's View of Life
As the new worldview is formed in the practitioners,
their new view of life is established on this new base.
The practitioner's view of life is strongly
deterministic and pessimistic, tinted by an inclination for
escaping the world. "Let it be" and "follow
one's sense perceptions" are the main characteristic
of this type of view of life. This view of life is held for
the following reasons:
First, qigong theory holds that in order to
reach the desired high realm of qigong, the most important
thing to do is to have a clear heart with few desires and
to get rid of selfish ideas and personal considerations. Practitioners
are required to lay down worldly affairs such as any concern
for loss and gain, including job, career, hobbies, reputation,
wealth etc. This theory is like the "all things are empty"
of Buddhism, the "doing nothing" of Taoism. Many
people find it hard to give up those many things. They cannot
get their "six desires cleaned" and are unable to
achieve good results from practice or even to continue their
practice. Yet the majority of Chinese intellectuals have in
their possession no scholarly honor or official rank or benefits
or wealth; hence they have no problem giving up such things.
These intellectuals become outstanding figures in the qigong
field, especially in its theory, of which they are qualified
to be called the founder.
Second, due to the obscure power that they
have experienced in their qigong practice and that they feel
is controlling their lives and the traditional theory about
ghosts and gods that they have already accepted, they hold
a deterministic view about their lives and decide they do
not have to make any specific effort to cause any particular
things to happen for them. "Let it be" becomes a
classical view of life for qigong practitioners. Thus they
simply obey the guidance of "the power that determines
human fate," and by doing this, they have given up their
primary consciousness in a broad sense and started to follow
the leading of evil spirits.
This view of life brings direct harm because
the practitioners grow more and more averse to the many practical
things in their job and life, for these practical matters
are contradictory to the moods that qigong practice requires.
After some time they develop an inclination to escape the
world, which is yet a goal they are unable to realize. The
result is that their enthusiasm for, and concentration on,
their work and life are greatly lessened and many benefits
in life due them are lost.
Because of the different view of life that qigong
practitioners have in relation to that of the people around
them, they are looked upon as strange people and are treated
coldly or are regarded as queer people to be respected but
kept at a distance. Very few persons show them any understanding.
For the above reasons practitioners gradually
withdraw from the society and are discarded by communities.
They have their spiritual life blocked, are lonely, and are
helpless mentally and spiritually. They have to lead a life
of seclusion within qigong, savoring by themselves the loneliness
of life.
The Harm of Qigong to the Practitioners' Moral Values
The moral values of qigong are basically a combination
of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. They includes no murdering
of human beings (qigong practitioners of high levels do not
kill animals either), no robbing, no stealing, being ready
to take up the cudgels for a just cause, controlling one tyranny
by another, and correcting mistakes while upholding righteousness.
In a word, the moral values of qigong encourage beneficent
deeds in addition to respecting Buddhist monks, Taoist priests
and idols, having no desire for scholarly honor or official
ranks, and making no fuss about loss and gains.
One of the motivations for the practitioners
to abide by qigong moral values is to acquire a higher level
of gong power. This motivation to moral values is a half-true,
half-false theory. It can easily delude people and lead them
to worship the devil, evil spirits and idols, thereby distracting
them from God and the true meaning of life.
The Harm of Qigong to the Practitioners' Character and Personal
Qualities
The qigong worldview, view of life, moral values,
and especially qigong practices determine the character and
qualities of the practitioner.
According to qigong theory, to possess the
ideal character of the practitioner is to be loving, kind,
gentle, persevering, patient, modest, slow to anger, on guard
against impetuosity, and magnanimous. Actually, beginning
practitioners try to abide by these rules out of their enthusiasm,
but later they become queer, irascible, impatient, and even
cruel, callous and unfeeling under the long-term pressure
their souls go through and the disturbance from the evil spirits
within them. The practitioners usually do not notice the change
that happens to them, but they find that friends are distancing
themselves from them or exhorting them.
In the first place, the practice of qigong emphasizes
one's feelings, and "following one's feelings" is
its classical principle. In the beginning, it is "feeling
the qi" and "the state of qi." At high levels,
it is the feeling of one's own soul and of evil spirits and
of things in the natural world. The pet phrase of qigong practitioners
is "feeling." As the practice deepens, the practitioners
live almost completely in their feelings. The first feeling
they have when they get up in the morning decides their mood
of the day. When they feel good while practicing qigong, they
can be excited for days. Having such a lifestyle makes one
very sensitive, changeable and impetuous.
Second, many qigong practitioners believe in
ghosts and gods, yet qigong theories do not provide any views
on the origin or destination of life, giving only the meaning
of life at the highest level of qigong, which is immortality.
Therefore, these practitioners ponder over the meaning of
life only on the basis of the traditional beliefs in ghosts
and gods. As to the atheists, they are even less able to find
a direct answer to the meaning of life. However, the many
supernormal phenomena that appear with qigong practice give
them great encouragement and make them believe that qigong
will be able to explain the meaning of life sooner or later.
For most practitioners of qigong, what will happen after death
is unsure, so they often worry, have anxieties, carrying their
bafflement with them all the time.
Finally, practitioners believe in divinations
and omens and believe feelings and dreams are foretokens of
happenings in their lives. So whenever they see any natural
phenomena in the natural world or sense a different attitude
of others towards them, or suddenly get a strange feeling,
they will analyze the implications of these things, which
will then make them happy or sad. Especially are those qigong
masters who perform supernormal abilities to heal others more
bound by their feelings and under the pressures of life, having
no freedom in their lives at all. The evil spirits manipulate
and get control of practitioners through influencing their
feelings.
In a word, the change in the practitioner's character is an
obvious mark of the danger qigong inflicts upon people.
Now, let us take a look at the change of the
practitioner's moral character. Practitioners pay a lot of
attention to their moral character images. Most common practitioners
abide by qigong virtues, restraining themselves, watching
their words and deeds, and trying their best to present themselves
as being detached and magnanimous. These people help to build
up much fame for qigong in the society. Adherents of qigong
generally hold that the social mores and morals will be bettered
if everyone practices qigong. But the fact is qigong has very
little influence upon one's moral character.
Most qigong practitioners have little change
in their moral character after they start to practice qigong.
They acknowledge only orally qigong virtues and abide by them
superficially. Even though qigong theories hold that evil
deeds will be punished, the fact is that practitioners with
poor moral character are not affected at all in their qigong
practice by the evil deeds they perform, but, on the contrary,
they achieve better effects for doing those things.
Through the discussion of this chapter, we discover that the
strange impressions people have about qigong practitioners
come mainly from their character and morals, while their deep
impressions of those with supernormal capabilities come from
the supernormal abilities and strange signs they display and
perform.
The Harm of Qigong to the Practitioners' Souls
The character and morals of the practitioners
inflict direct influences upon people around them, but the
harm by qigong on the soul afflicts directly the practitioners
themselves.
For a lot of qigong practitioners, the worst
misery is the pain of their heart.
First, the practitioner's perplexity about life
and the universe causes great puzzlement in his/her heart.
This is true even with high-level qigong masters. Though they
can do many things that other people are not up to, they are
powerless before the problem of life and death. They may believe
that they very possibly might attain the highest state of
enlightenment and live forever, but they are unsure about
it.
Second, long-term training in imagination and
complex mediation steps severely tortures the practitioner's
heart. This is called by qigong adherents "tempering
one's character." Its purpose is to trample on human
nature and make it weak and suppliant without any power or
consciousness for resistance. Sometimes when the imagination
process is excessively complex and lasts for a long time,
it exhausts the practitioner's heart and even causes him/her
to vomit. After his/her soul has been tortured like this,
he/she will feel very uncomfortable when practicing qigong.
Yet the problem is that the gong may start by itself in daily
living without warning and is uncontrollable. Practitioners
will then have the following symptoms: their moods fluctuate
wildly, sometimes desperate, sometimes hopeful; they are often
world weary, making light of life; they are sometimes extremely
cowardly and do not want to do anything.
When the practitioner feels hurt in his/her heart and soul,
it is the period of time when his/her gong power increases
the fastest. This is the practitioners' biggest comfort and
is the only driving force for them to continue practicing.
They use the very popular principle "the more you lose,
the more you will gain" to explain their pains.
Harm by Qigong to the Practitioner's Consciousness and Mode
of Thinking
The practitioners' view of life, worldview,
and knowledge and experience of qigong form in them a peculiar
consciousness and mode of thinking whose characteristic is
"everything being decided by consciousness" and
whose logical thinking is based upon feelings and produces
different ways of logical analysis.
First, when good or bad things happen to the
practitioners, they think that they should neither be happy
when good events occur nor feel sad when bad events occur.
They try hard to adjust their consciousness, believing all
things that have happened to them are due to happen as they
actually have, that such events are unavoidable. "When
the old man on the frontier lost his mare, who could have
guessed it was a blessing in disguise?" They call bad
things good and good bad. It is the so-called traditional
cultural consciousness of "inter-transformation between
blessings and disasters." Hence the practitioners gradually
lose the consciousness of avoiding misfortunes and seeking
happiness.
Second, human consciousness and feelings are
believed to have a deciding effect on one's life. This can
be well illustrated by the qigong-like mode of thinking as
related to illness. When someone is ill, qigong masters always
find reasons to make the patient believe that the illness
has been caused by his/her consciousness or mood. For example,
they will say it is because the patient has too strong desires
and expectations in life and that his/her consciousness suppresses
his/her health so that the physical body has to take on some
diseases to achieve balance with the excessively strong desires.
As long as the patient lowers his/her expectations and desires,
health will be improved.
Qigong theory holds that the happenings of things
are decided by "the degree of purity" of one's consciousness
and feelings. If bad things happen, it is because a part,
even if it is a tiny part, of one’s consciousness has
believed it would happen. It is the same case with good things.
This is the so-called theory of "conscious wholeness."
For example, if your consciousness believes event A will not
happen and your consciousness has no doubt at all about it,
leaving no loopholes at all in your consciousness, then there
will be no information about event A entering into your consciousness
and feelings, and event A will not take place because you
are in "conscious wholeness." In contrast, if you
hope for something to happen, it will happen.
Such thinking and consciousness will focuses people's attention
more upon their own feelings, moods and deep-level consciousness
and away observation of the outside world. They are often
self reflective, but do not actively seek to solve the problem
itself or analyze the principles of objective things. They
always try to adjust their own sub-conscious and feelings
in order to determine the coming about of events. What actually
happens is that they cannot deal with even a simple thing
in life. Let us see another example. A seriously diseased
person goes to see a qigong master. It may happen that the
qigong master is unable to heal this person. If this is true,
the qigong master will say to this person, "You do not
completely believe in qigong in your heart, for your imagination
does not cooperate with me, and my information cannot enter
into you. I cannot heal you in this way." Or the qigong
masters will say, "Your consciousness has caused the
disease in you; such and such expectation and desire of yours
are too strong. If you are unwilling to give them up, nobody
will be able to cure your disease." How will this patient
feel? He/she will be saddened. If he/she believes what the
qigong master says, he/she will endeavor to adjust his/her
own feelings, state of mind and consciousness. He/she will
be trapped in a prison of feelings and have his/her soul bound
up.
Furthermore, qigong theories teach the superstition
of "cause and effect retribution." What is generally
believed is that "cause and effect retribution"
refers to good returns for good deeds and evil retribution
for evil deeds. But qigong practitioners think the reference
should be broader, believing that if someone harms animals
(especially snakes) or does evil things to idols, qigong masters,
Buddhist monks or Taoist priests, then this person will be
severely punished. This is very typical of evil spirits' principles.
In the Bible the snake is the symbol of Satan. Yet in the
Chinese traditional belief in ghosts and gods, the snake is
a lucky totem. In fact, qigong practitioners and people accepting
the traditional lore about ghosts and gods often feel that
"good people are not rewarded for their good deeds and
evil people are not punished for their evil doings."
They find this hard to understand and can only say "it
is not time yet" to explain it and to comfort themselves.
In conclusion to all the above, qigong practice
leads to a morbid consciousness and mode of thinking. It causes
people to think and do things from a wrong starting point
and enter into a vicious circle. In such a mode of life, practitioners
ignore the practical principles and reasons of things, stray
away from scientific thinking and wise principles for handling
things, and lack a logical thinking method based up facts,
resulting in erroneous behavior and language, queer ways of
doing things, and passivity in all things. Their life is like
playing hide and seek. They are losers in life, having no
certainty about anything nor any overall vision of the significance
of their lives.
Let's discuss the last aspect of harm.
Harm by Qigong to the Practical Lives of Its Practitioners
There is no more severe damage from qigong than
that to the practical lives of the practitioners. This harm
includes not only the results of the harm to human nature
listed above, but also those most practical, most actual miseries
that practitioners of qigong are unable to explain.
As the practice goes deeper, the practitioners
lose more and more of the happiness of life and grow tired
and helpless. The things that happen to them can roughly be
placed in the following categories:
1. A qigong practitioner is often thwarted
in all areas of his/her life, including his/her study, work,
career and love. Many of the practitioners' basic skills
for carrying on living degrade after they start to practice
qigong. They find unfortunate events coming in rapid succession,
and they are all unforeseen, as if a piece of stone were
to come crushing down on their head.
2. The qigong practitioners cannot heal their
own diseases with qigong, and they feel heavy hearted because
of this.
3. A practitioner's family members may meet
with mishaps and strange events, even though these family
members do not practice qigong or believe in it.
4. The practitioners will get injured from
accidents for unforeseen reasons that may be man made, or
related to the actual practice itself, or for other reasons.
5. Practitioners will be excluded, attacked,
and misunderstood by others.
6. Practitioners will be perturbed by dreadful
sounds, visions, shadows, and other strange things of this
sort, either during the night, whether or not in dreams,
or during the daytime. They have these experiences either
for a long time or a short time, and, as a result, are very
nervous and exhausted both spiritually and physically.
7. The practitioners may suddenly become
lunatic because of what they say they have seen or heard.
They may also become dull witted and remain close mouthed.
Most of the cases listed above seem, on the
surface, not to have any direct relation to qigong practice.
Not only qigong practitioners but also any people may have
unhappy things happening to them in their lives, so it is
not easy for people to see that those things have to do with
qigong. But if we pay even a little attention to the occurrence
of these phenomena, we find out that they tend to share the
following characteristics: they are strange, abnormal, illogical,
totally unexpected and seemingly very unlucky, weird, unbelievable,
and like living under a strong curse.
We read in the Bible that God hates most for
people to worship idols and evil spirits. The practice of
qigong brings God's anger upon the practitioner.
It is a good thing that many practitioners give
up practicing after they have experienced the strange things
mentioned above, but it is not good enough. If one does not
know Jesus Christ, he/she does not know God and will not be
able to get away from his/her misfortune at all because evil
spirits will not let one go easily and human power is absolutely
too weak to defeat the devil. As to how to win a victory,
it will be discussed in detail in chapter eight.
Qigong practitioners and performers with supernormal abilities
should understand that only through accepting Jesus Christ
and through the power of God can they overcome evil spirits
and enter into God's protection and blessings in order to
enjoy the happy life that God has prepared for them. There
is no other choice whatsoever.
2. The Danger of Qigong to Society
The greatest function of religion is to form
in human societies a cultural ideology by providing an entire
philosophical system, including a worldview, a view of life,
and ethical morals.
Since qigong is a new religion in China, its
philosophical system is still in an embryonic form and is
just now beginning to exert its influence on the culture and
society.
Chinese culture as a whole is moving rapidly
from atheism to theism. Qigong's influence forms a false cult
characterized by worship of idols, evil spirits and even of
humans themselves, and this cult leads the entire society
into danger.
First, no matter what education they have received,
all qigong practitioners take qigong virtues as moral principles
and believe in the existence of incredible supernatural powers
in human beings. Their pride grows with each passing day.
They worship human beings themselves and also idols devotedly.
Even atheistic practitioners, in order to increase their gong
power, worship idols and great qigong masters with supernormal
capabilities. For qigong practitioners the most important
goal in life is to reach a higher level of qigong, to obtain
more powerful supernormal abilities, and to be like a god.
They give up many desires and expectations of life, are reluctant
to spend time seeking material gains or spiritual life and
gradually lessen their social involvement.
Second, due to some strange methods of practice,
qigong practitioners are believed to have odd behaviors, which
lead to strange cultural events. For example, years ago, there
were innumerable practitioners coming to the Temple of Heaven
to collect energy. Because it was said that the ancient trees
there have a strong "qi field," many took various
postures in order to collect "the energy of trees,"
causing passers-by to find them both amusing and annoying.
Since the Temple of Heaven was the place for offering sacrifices
to gods or ancestors in ancient times, evil spirits frequent
this place. There were also people who played, either at home
or in their work units, tapes of qigong masters' teaching
or of "nan wu a mi tuo fu," repeatedly chanted.
The evil spirits ran wild in those places, making strange
atmospheres.
Also, due to the traditional qigong system of
clans and groups and attacks on each other and rejections
of each other, many cell groups and sub-societies are formed.
Qigong disciples adhere to their own clan or group and worship
their own head master. In each clan or group, there is their
own peculiar sub-system of philosophy. Although they abide
by qigong virtues on the surface, they need to give vent to
the tremendous pressure their souls undergo because of the
intrusion of evil spirits. They thus interfere with the normal
order of other people's daily living. Many qigong disciples
pay their masters blind obedience, a fact which leads to many
severe evil results.
Generally speaking, qigong practitioners are
passive and have a pessimistic view of life. They ignore study,
work, career, and love and show no interest in new things,
but instead worship ancient people and culture. They think
Chinese culture is the most profound, the most enduring, and
the most outstanding culture, rejecting the excellent culture
of the West and looking down on science and technology. They
think qigong can solve the fundamental problems of human beings,
taking physical health as the most important thing in life
and immortality as the highest goal. They hold an attitude
of escape toward modern civilization because they are unable
to deal with the issues of life. Qigong exerts a negative
influence on society.
When qigong endangers the society and culture,
it surely endangers the state in the political sense.
Because of its spiritual background of evil
spirits, qigong forms an erroneous culture. We know that from
the Holy Bible that God bitterly detests the worshipping of
idols and evil spirits and human arrogance and conceit as
well. He always punishes countries, nations and individuals
that believe in evil spirits and worship idols.
When an individual starts to practice qigong,
God's anger comes upon him/her, and he or she will then live
under a curse. When a country or nation has a lot of people
practicing qigong, God's anger comes upon this country or
nation. Just like the harm that qigong brings to individuals,
the harm inflicted upon the country may seem on the surface
to have nothing to do with qigong, even though the connection
is incontrovertible. The disasters are due to God's anger.
At the climax of trend toward qigong in China, the whole world
saw the disastrous events that happened to this country.
On the other hand, God blesses individuals,
nations and countries that believe in Him. Now, because of
the revival of Christianity in China, God's blessings are
upon China. It is estimated that there are slightly more Christians
than qigong practitioners in China and the difference will
be much greater within one or two years. The number of Christians
is growing much faster than that of qigong practitioners.
More people will begin to see the harm inflicted
by qigong upon individuals, the society and the nation. More
people will get to know God through Jesus Christ. This is
the hope for China—both individuals and the nation as
a whole.
No doubt, the truth will win the victory. In
fact, He has won already!
