Mr. Xue
Paul FraserQigong is a Special Knowledge Possessing Characteristics of Both Matter and Spirit
Since very early in Chinese history people have been continuously studying the question of what qigong truly is.
Records found in many ancient Chinese books, such as Emperor Huang Ti’s Neijing (“Internal Classics”) and the Yijing (“Book of Changes”), have revealed the scope and results of the research of our ancestors, along with many everyday idioms and phrases. In descriptions of the vigor of life, we often encounter common phrases such as “the flourishing qi in the morning,” “the vital qi of the youngster,” “qi appearing like rainbows,” and, in reference to the decline of life, “the seriously depleted qi” and “the faintly remaining qi“. Actually, such phrases express and describe quite well and in a concrete way the original qi (yuanqi) of human life. Many people, however, use these phrases while neglecting their real meaning. Otherwise, qigong would not be such a mystery.
Our ancestors’ study and understanding of qigong where informed by an unreserved materialism, emphasizing practice much more than highlighting conceptual knowledge. For instance, the phenomena of experiencing lights, images, figures, shadows, thoughts– all are ways in which qi shows itself: and the sensations of swelling, numbness, cold, heat, and pain can also be the real results of proper practice. People who believe in materialism understand such phenomena through the tools of materialism. (Of course, this kind of understanding also includes some use of the tools of idealism: for example, the understanding derived from experiencing certain thoughts.) Moreover, our ancestors broke down their knowledge of qi in detail and came up with fitting descriptions. In the large-scale sense, there is the qi of the chaos: “The light qi rose upward to form heaven (tian), and the heavy qi centered and sank downward to form earth di.” In the small-scale sense, there is the “original qi” in the human body and the “spirit (ling) qi” of all things on earth (i.e., the qi in qigong). The aforementioned shows the broad and narrow meanings of qi; the former the broadest, whereas the qi in qigong is comparatively narrow.
The broad definition of qi refers to a common characteristic, whereas the narrow definitions refer to specific characteristics. Therefore, the broad meaning includes the narrow meaning, and the latter expresses some general characteristics of the former—as it is with everything in the world. For example, the concept of humanity is also broken down into broad and narrow meanings. There is the individual person, a group of people, and humans in general. Differences between general characteristics and specific characteristics exist—both are mingled together but are at the same time different.
The qi in qigong, which not only merges into the original qi of the universe but also is derived from this same original qi, is of the most spiritual (ling) kind; therefore a special method (i.e., a qigong exercise) is required to obtain it.
What is the Qi in the Universe?
Our ancestors arrived at a clear understanding of the phrase, “The light qi rose upward to form heaven, and the heavy qi centered and sank downward to form earth.” Here, qi is virtually the tiny particles of matter in the universe. In terms of qi‘s own law of motion: “Light and essential things floated upward, forming the clear and infinite sky;” “heavy and turbid things sank and formed the ground.” These words, in fact, not only are recognition of the motion of matter during the time of the chaos but also an interpretation of the phenomenon of the motion of matter after the formation of space. Such a phenomenon even now is often perceivable—quantities of particles are found floating here and there in the sky. Whereas only the light and essential particles can keep floating in the air, heavy and turbid things are bound eventually to sink to the ground. These are the characteristics in the broadest sense of the “original qi” of the universe, which means that all specific kinds of qi have these same characteristics in common.
With the above-mentioned points in mind, we now maintain that the real source of the qi in qigong can be understood and recognized. Qi is from the universe and is a special entity, possessing characteristics of both matter and spirit (ling).
The qi in qigong shows its material characteristics in three ways:
- It reveals its existence through energy. It reveals its existence through energy. So when qi is experienced by a person’s body, certain corresponding sensations, such as swelling, numbness, cold, heat, pain, itching, spontaneous swaying, or a stream of air circulating in the body, can be detected.
The same reasoning can be applied when other energies (e.g., electrical, thermal) make contact with the body and a feeling is detected. The difference lies in the fact that instruments have been produced to detect the existence of electrical and other energies, whereas no suitable instrument has yet been made to detect the existence of qi. So it seems as if there are no scientific proofs as to the existence of qi.
One of my students, a retired worker at the Quangdong Engineering Company, often detects a feeling of electric shocks and also finds electric sparks appearing between his hands when he is receiving qi and practicing qigong as prescribed in this book. When issuing qi to treat patients of the opposite sex, the electric shocks are felt on both sides and electric sparks can also be perceived. This phenomenon shows that qi emphasizes its expression as electrical energy in his body.
As the qi field (or biological field) differs in everybody, each person obtains a different feeling when experiencing qi (e.g. some feel electrical energy more; others feel light energy or magnetic energy more).
- Qi moves in and across time and space in the way of molecular motion.
In daily life, we can often smell the fragrance of flowers, the pleasant odors of food and other scents. This is because the human nose absorbs the molecules of matter or material substances coming from nearby. One can accept this reasoning even with only a slight knowledge of physics.
Along the same lines, odors are smelled by the practitioner of qigong while in the qigong state (the state of qi-receiving or qigong-exercising).
The difference is that the odor-causing molecules that are absorbed and detected by people in a normal state are at a close distance, whereas the molecules absorbed by the practitioner of qigong while in the qigong state can be coming from far away—as well as from nearby. The scents will usually disappear as soon as the qigong practice ends.
With this realization, we can understand that the process of exercising and receiving qi is practically the same process as receiving energy and absorbing material elements from nature.
Moreover, the odor of a dead body may be detected when a patient suffering from organic-disease inflammation (e.g., when a certain organ has deteriorated and decayed) is being treated by one who has acquired a profound and consummate qigong skill. The proper explanation is that the issuing qi dissolves the deteriorating parts of the organ in the body into tiny particles, as small as molecules, and discharges and ejects them out of the body. Whenever such bad odors are detected, qi’s material characteristic becomes obvious.
- It can radiate outward in the mode of a “field,”
Like an electrical field or a magnetic field, when a qi field radiates outward, it also forms circle after circle, like ripples in water. It is not out of the question for a person with strong issuing ability to launch qi a long distance—say, hundreds or thousands of miles away. This is a fact I had to recognize after experiencing several successful cases.
Long-Distance Healing
It was in July 1991 that I experienced the first healing of one of my patients over a long distance. One evening, Ji Xiao Ming, an overseas Chinese who had made my acquaintance earlier that year during his stay in China and who was then living in the Dominican Republic, telephoned me from the official residence of the secretary-general of the president of the country. He asked me to issue qi, long distance, to cure his friend’s mother (the secretary-general’s mother), who
was suffering from chronic nephritis, and also his sister, who was suffering from a migraine. I agreed to offer them an experimental issuing. The interpreter translated the method of receiving qi instructed by me, after which we hung up our receivers. I began to issue qi in Shenzhen; they were receiving qi in the Dominican Republic. After 15 minutes, they called me again and were happy to inform me that they both had detected the sensation and that the secretary-general’s sister found her headache had disappeared and she suffered no more!A number of my students have acquired the ability to issue long-distance qi and have produced fairly good curative effects. Of them, two cooperated with each other in Guangzhou to give first-aid treatment using a long-distance vision diagnosis and long-distance issuing qi to cure a patient in critical condition in Foshan who was suffering from a cardiovascular disease.
It seems fantastic and unbelievable for those who have not experienced such things themselves to accept the idea of the curative effects of qi over long distances. What is more, no proper scientific instrument is available to detect the process of the effects produced— and so it seems all the more unconvincing. But cured patients are the best witnesses, and their testimony is convincing.
In another instance, on May 11, 1994, Ms. Liang Wei, the head of the human-resources department of Guangzhou University, was complaining of being overworked and was suffering from cholecystitis and was soaked with a cold sweat caused by a sharp pain. As a rule, she would have to be hospitalized for several days. At that time, however, she was attending a meeting in Conghua, so it was inconvenient for her to stay in the hospital. Fortunately, she had some knowledge regarding receiving qi from a distance for curing diseases. Therefore, she called and asked me to issue qi to cure her. Only a short time after she received qi she felt the pain begin to ease; that very evening she fell asleep. The next morning she went to work as usual. The fact that not even one tablet of medicine was needed and that a long-distance qi treatment resulted in such a wonderful curative effect made the people who saw it in person and those who learned of it feel strange, but they had to recognize the truth. They then were determined to learn Pan Gu Mystical Qigong themselves.
Why qigong can be used for disease treatment?
This phenomenon can be compared with that of broadcasting and receiving in radio. Since it is a special “field” existing in objective reality, if you know how to receive qi with the corresponding specific means, you can do so to obtain its curative effects. Having learned the material characteristics of qigong, we may say that we understand half the principle behind the answer as to why qigong can be used for disease treatment. And this partial understanding can be traced to the same origin as modern medical principles (for both Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine).
What are the principles of modern medical science? The most fundamental principle is to suit the remedy to the case, which means, explaining in a bit more detail, to use medicine to replenish the needs of the organs in the body to solve the factors causing the illness.
Why do people contract diseases? There are only two basic reasons:
- The organs in the human body either lack the necessary material elements or else the harmful material elements in them increase. Most diseases are classified as parenchymal diseases and can be examined easily. We call them diseases of material characteristics.
- Various physiological functions within the human body work continuously; however, once some of them decline or when troubles appear in such functions, the human body will contract disease.
At the beginning, even over a period of time, ailments of this second kind may not yet reveal themselves as organic diseases, but still they can make patients feel easily fatigued. Although general malaise and aches are felt here and there, pathogens and ailments can hardly be checked out. Therefore, we classify such symptoms as diseases with characteristics relating to spirit (ling). Once such kinds of ailments have turned into parenchymal ones, however, they will be serious or chronic and difficult to cure. They include, for example, cardiomyopathy, diabetes mellitus, cerebral embolism, psychosis, chronic hepatitis, lupus erythematous, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Modern medical science has satisfactorily solved the ailments evoked by the causes of the first group. Yet in curing the ailments evoked by the causes of the second group—or together with the causes of the first group— it shows itself incapable, and the curative effects are often found to be unsatisfactory.
Let us now explore the reason behind this failure—to cure the diseases of the second group. The basic principle of modern medical science (especially Western medical science) is related to material characteristics: to replenish matter with matter (i.e., to replenish material substances that the body needs and to neutralize harmful material substances with medicine); or to rid matter with matter (i.e., to incise the infected part of the organ). Medical science, however, lacks the effective means to strengthen fundamentally the physiological functioning of the human body—i.e., the life force (shengmingli) and the immune system.
The characteristics of qigong are in agreement with strengthening the life force. This is the second reason that qigong can cure disease: its ability to solve the second kind of causes of contracting diseases in the human body.
Let us now move on to a discussion of the word “spirit” (ling). When discussing this word, however, the definition of spirit should first be exactly and correctly appreciated.
What is spirit? The basic meaning is: a dynamic force that surpasses any characteristic of matter. Let us take the life force (shengmingli) of human beings as an example. Humans possess a dynamic force that surpasses material characteristics. Although the life force adheres to matter (i.e., the human body) and acts on matter (the human body), matter is by no means equivalent to the life force! As to this, the phenomenon of “death coming upon a person without any ailment” is the best evidence. If matter were equivalent to the life force, then, as long as the material elements that form human organs do not decrease and each organ does not have ailments, the life force should continue to exist. Facts, however, prove the contrary. The life force exists (i.e., is a “thing”) without any trace, form, sign, mark, or even shadow. Once the life force ceases to work, death will come upon a person; and once it is unable effectively to make certain organs work properly, the body will become ill.
The dynamic aspect of the life force shows itself in two respects: conscious behavior and super-conscious behavior. To a certain degree, it is controlled through human will (yizhi). Therefore, strong-willed and/or open-minded people can persist longer and recover quicker when they contract diseases. This is the expression of the life force in conscious behavior.
In most cases, however, it does not obey the will of the body, but acts independently in its own way to work actively or to slow down until it exhausts itself of its own accord, this super-conscious behavior of the life force can produce both favorable and unfavorable effects on the health of the human body. When it is in its vigorous and exuberant state, it creates beneficial effects. For example, when a person is in his or her youth, slight wounds or minor ailments can quickly heal without the need of ingesting medicine, rather with only the automatically adjusting effect of the body’s own life force. If a person’s life force can remain in a vigorous and energetic state and in a good automatically adjusting condition, then there are hopeful prospects for maintaining real health in the human body.
Coincidentally, the qi involved in qigong also possesses conscious behavior and super-conscious behavior, corresponding with this characteristic of the life force. The active characteristic of human life force can, therefore, be strengthened through proper qigong exercising. In other words, the physiological functions of the body can be strengthened, and unimaginable effects arc accordingly obtained in treating some diseases. (Certainly, this result of strengthening physiological functions may vary with the information contained in different methods of qigong. Therefore, some narrowly focused styles of qigong cannot completely strengthen all the various physiological functions in the human body, resulting in the phenomenon of the failure of these styles to cure certain diseases.)
Since proper lab machines are still unavailable for testing how the qi in qigong improves the physiological functions in the human body, I cannot offer such data to explain this process; however, I can provide a large number of facts to testify as to the successful effects of qi and qigong.
Healing Effects of Pan Gu Shengong Qigong
Pan Gu Mystical Qigong (also known as Pangu Shengong) has produced wonderful effects in treating cardiomyopathy. In fact, every patient who came to me with heart disease and who has learned and properly practiced the qigong exercises has obtained positive results. Among them, some have completely recovered. One of my patients, who suffered from an intermittent heartbeat caused by a heart deformation, once suffered a 10-minute period with no heartbeat! He was rescued after receiving treatment with Pan Gu Mystical Qigong. After six months of treatments from me and his own practice, a hospital diagnosis showed that his deformed heart had unexpectedly grown and was normal again!
In treating other diseases of disorder in physiological functioning and of immunity decline, this qigong has also produced miraculous effects. For example, Mr. Fang Ning, a retired teacher from the Guangzhou Foreign Trade Institute, found senile scars appearing on his arms several years ago. However, after only months of exercising with this qigong, they disappeared and his skin felt smooth again. This phenomenon sufficiently proves that the practice of Pan Gu Mystical Qigong can strengthen the physiological functioning of the skin.
The most typical case of strengthening the human immune system occurred when a group of patients suffering from lupus erythematous and rheumatoid arthritis recovered after being treated with this qigong form. Take Ms. Ye Ping, for example. She is a teacher in Number 97 Middle School in Quangzhou. In July, 1992, she was diagnosed with lupus erythematous. The doctor emphatically told her that the cause of such an ailment could not yet be determined and that it was firmly believed to be beyond remedy.
To control the situation, however, she was to take medicine (hormones) at certain times in certain doses throughout the remainder of her life. Fortunately, on the recommendation of a friend, Ms. Ye began to learn Pan Gu Mystical Qigong in December of that same year. After a subsequent check-up a year later, the result showed data indicating normalcy: the lines on the two lungs had become comparatively normal; there were no lesions seen in the lungs; and abnormalities were no longer seen in the heart.
The aforementioned examples have led me to recognize the material and spiritual characteristics of Pan Gu Mystical Qigong, and with this overall realization of them to better grasp the special quality of qigong: curing patients with excellent results.
I wish good health to all people in the world! I wish for all people in the world to be friendly and kind! I hold: in realizing my best wishes, this miraculous but real qigong will bring new hope and a feasible and practical method.
Note:
- Being awarded the gold cup at the First International Somatic Science Conference and held in U.S.A. June 1995.
- Being awarded the prize at the Fourth International Qigong Academic Conference held in Canada in 1995.
- Published in the “Thesis Collection of the Fourth International Qigong Academic Conference” and the “Thesis Collection of the Fourth World Conference of Medical Qigong”.
