Library's review
Qigong (chee-gung) has swep America as the newest approach to healing and is on the rise again in China. This 2,500-year-old form of traditional Chinese medicine claims that the human body has channels (meridians) through which flows a substance known as Qi. While internal qigong practices
This remarkable book, written by a group of Chinese scientists, discusses the nature and practice of qiong and its various manifestations. They also explore the extraordinary claims for this type of folk therapy to uncover deception in the name of science. Exposed are such alleged qigong practices as: clairvoyance, telepathy, weightlessness, energy discharge, energy-impregnated language (qigong prescriptions), and much more.
Lin Zixin is retired editor-in-chief of China's Science and Technology Daily, Yu Li works in China's Ministry of Internal Trade and is viewed as China popular debunker of pseudoscience, Guo Zhengyi is deputy director and Shen Zhenyu is research director for China's Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Zhang Tongling is professor of psychiary at Beijing Medical University.
From the preface-
'Qigong is a part of the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. It can be practiced without the aid of drugs anywhere on likes, and, when mastered, will serve to balance one's vitality, supplement one's energy, stamp out disease, and promote one's halth...In recent years, plenty of charlatans emerged thoughout China. They created a lot of publicity for themselves, pretending to be qigong masters by resorting to all sorts of conjuring triacks, cheating, and pseudoscience. It not only created considerable confusion in China, but also preplexed the outside world. For this reason...experts in this field...attempt to promote some thoroughgoing reform.
'China has an old saying that 'domestic shame should not be made public.' But we believe we should maintain a respectful attitude toward science, truth, and facts, rather than hide the facts. In compiling this book we aim not to deny our culture, but to allow the people of the world to have a bona fide comprehension of what qigong is, to better enable them to distinguish the true from the false, and to join together with them in a scientific attitude to iluminate this treasure of scientific culture that belongs to all humankind.'
Contents
Preface
I Traditional Chinse medicine and qigong
1 Qigong and its history
Basic methods and important facts about qigong
Regulate the body by movement
Regulate breathing to cultivate qi
Controlling breathing with the mind
Coordinating movement in qigong practice
Reciting a mantra
Proper length of breath-specifically, how does one decide the proper length of time for one breath?
Speed of breathing
2 Regulate he mind and gdjust thought
3 Modern scientific investigation into qigong theory
II External qigong
1 Its origins and developoment
2 The analysis of the essence of the effect of external qigong therapy
3 The secret of Yan Xin's 'Lectures with qigong'
4 The external qigong experiment crossing national boundaries
The experimental result showed that the physical basis of external qigoing is not credible
The experimenton bacteria was not repeatable
The truth of the experiment on external qigong at Hsinghua University
The truth of the experimental report given by Zhang Xiangyu
5 The recognition of the essence of qigong
III Itinerant quackrey and qigong
1 The truth of magic tricks of pseudo-qiong
2 Ten diagnoses of diesases of 'Qigong super abilities'
Using he telephone to gather information about the patient
Sending disciples to seek useful information
Adapting oneself to the circumstnaces
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the patient is reckless
Stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timber-perpetrating a fraud
Trying to upset the patient
Venting anger on the patient or visitor
Preparing the stage
Exploring talks between a qigong crook and patient
IV The debate on human extraordinay ability vs. qigong (inner kung fu)
1 The shift in emphasis
2 Qigong: The key to opening human potential
3 Qigong miracles and special function
The effect of external qigong on living and nonliving things (PK phenomenon in special function terminology)
Remote killing or control (in special function-using the power of the mind to cut or move objects)
Removing watch needles, curving keys, moving objects, cuting steel bands, and performing surgical operations using mental power
Mind reading (thought transfer in special function)
Special visual abilities acuired by practicing qigong (seeing supernatural beings in special function)
Telling the future and reliving the past (fortune-telling in special function)
Summoning the wind and rain (special abilities gained by practicing qigong)
Smoke emanating from hands (high-level function in special function)
4 Four Chinese contemporary super-qigongists: Yan Kin, Zhang Hongbao, Zhang Xiangyu, and Zhang Baosheng
5 Reports on defrauding by use of qigong (special function)
6 Eastern renaissance
V Qigong and ultra-deviation
1 Ultra-deviation and its symptoms
What is ultra-deviation?
Symptoms of ultra-deviation
Where does the symptom 'Sense of energy' come from?
Not special function byt hallucination
2 Why does ultra-deviation occur?
What circumstances are likely to produce ultra-deviation?
Some concerns regarding the trainees themselves
Preliminary study on the mechanism of ultra-deviation
3 Must the trainee 'Break through the barrier' of deviation?
4 One should prevent deviation when praticing qigong
Have a psychological consultation before practicing qigong
Have a clear goal for practice
The time of daily practice should not be overextended
Do not fear disease and abstain from medical care when deviation occures
The instructor should be responsible for his students
Show More
relaxation and meditative technique, external qigong is an alleged form of energy or radiation emitted from the fingrtiips of 'masters' and is thought to affect and cure others, healing such maladies as hypertension, glaucoma, asthma, ulcers, tumors, and cancers.This remarkable book, written by a group of Chinese scientists, discusses the nature and practice of qiong and its various manifestations. They also explore the extraordinary claims for this type of folk therapy to uncover deception in the name of science. Exposed are such alleged qigong practices as: clairvoyance, telepathy, weightlessness, energy discharge, energy-impregnated language (qigong prescriptions), and much more.
Lin Zixin is retired editor-in-chief of China's Science and Technology Daily, Yu Li works in China's Ministry of Internal Trade and is viewed as China popular debunker of pseudoscience, Guo Zhengyi is deputy director and Shen Zhenyu is research director for China's Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Zhang Tongling is professor of psychiary at Beijing Medical University.
From the preface-
'Qigong is a part of the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. It can be practiced without the aid of drugs anywhere on likes, and, when mastered, will serve to balance one's vitality, supplement one's energy, stamp out disease, and promote one's halth...In recent years, plenty of charlatans emerged thoughout China. They created a lot of publicity for themselves, pretending to be qigong masters by resorting to all sorts of conjuring triacks, cheating, and pseudoscience. It not only created considerable confusion in China, but also preplexed the outside world. For this reason...experts in this field...attempt to promote some thoroughgoing reform.
'China has an old saying that 'domestic shame should not be made public.' But we believe we should maintain a respectful attitude toward science, truth, and facts, rather than hide the facts. In compiling this book we aim not to deny our culture, but to allow the people of the world to have a bona fide comprehension of what qigong is, to better enable them to distinguish the true from the false, and to join together with them in a scientific attitude to iluminate this treasure of scientific culture that belongs to all humankind.'
Contents
Preface
I Traditional Chinse medicine and qigong
1 Qigong and its history
Basic methods and important facts about qigong
Regulate the body by movement
Regulate breathing to cultivate qi
Controlling breathing with the mind
Coordinating movement in qigong practice
Reciting a mantra
Proper length of breath-specifically, how does one decide the proper length of time for one breath?
Speed of breathing
2 Regulate he mind and gdjust thought
3 Modern scientific investigation into qigong theory
II External qigong
1 Its origins and developoment
2 The analysis of the essence of the effect of external qigong therapy
3 The secret of Yan Xin's 'Lectures with qigong'
4 The external qigong experiment crossing national boundaries
The experimental result showed that the physical basis of external qigoing is not credible
The experimenton bacteria was not repeatable
The truth of the experiment on external qigong at Hsinghua University
The truth of the experimental report given by Zhang Xiangyu
5 The recognition of the essence of qigong
III Itinerant quackrey and qigong
1 The truth of magic tricks of pseudo-qiong
2 Ten diagnoses of diesases of 'Qigong super abilities'
Using he telephone to gather information about the patient
Sending disciples to seek useful information
Adapting oneself to the circumstnaces
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the patient is reckless
Stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timber-perpetrating a fraud
Trying to upset the patient
Venting anger on the patient or visitor
Preparing the stage
Exploring talks between a qigong crook and patient
IV The debate on human extraordinay ability vs. qigong (inner kung fu)
1 The shift in emphasis
2 Qigong: The key to opening human potential
3 Qigong miracles and special function
The effect of external qigong on living and nonliving things (PK phenomenon in special function terminology)
Remote killing or control (in special function-using the power of the mind to cut or move objects)
Removing watch needles, curving keys, moving objects, cuting steel bands, and performing surgical operations using mental power
Mind reading (thought transfer in special function)
Special visual abilities acuired by practicing qigong (seeing supernatural beings in special function)
Telling the future and reliving the past (fortune-telling in special function)
Summoning the wind and rain (special abilities gained by practicing qigong)
Smoke emanating from hands (high-level function in special function)
4 Four Chinese contemporary super-qigongists: Yan Kin, Zhang Hongbao, Zhang Xiangyu, and Zhang Baosheng
5 Reports on defrauding by use of qigong (special function)
6 Eastern renaissance
V Qigong and ultra-deviation
1 Ultra-deviation and its symptoms
What is ultra-deviation?
Symptoms of ultra-deviation
Where does the symptom 'Sense of energy' come from?
Not special function byt hallucination
2 Why does ultra-deviation occur?
What circumstances are likely to produce ultra-deviation?
Some concerns regarding the trainees themselves
Preliminary study on the mechanism of ultra-deviation
3 Must the trainee 'Break through the barrier' of deviation?
4 One should prevent deviation when praticing qigong
Have a psychological consultation before practicing qigong
Have a clear goal for practice
The time of daily practice should not be overextended
Do not fear disease and abstain from medical care when deviation occures
The instructor should be responsible for his students
Show Less
ISBN
1573922323 / 9781573922326
Publication
Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2197