Tiantian School of Qigong's Lineage
What is "lineage?" For that matter, what is a "master?" These concepts can be new to people in the West. Lineage as it applies to qigong refers to the progression of a qigong form or system from its originator to the current person(s) responsible for both ensuring the continued accuracy of its methods & theories and training its teachers. For example, the lineage of Turtle Longevity Qigong spans twenty generations within one family. 400 years ago a member of the Wang family of Anhui Province (near Lake Chao) originated, or invented, the form based on the movements of turtles and the principles of Chinese Medicine. That family member taught the other members of the family, and designated one family member to carry the form's teachings to the next successive generation. Through this process the form came to its current lineage holder, Master Wang Zhezhong of Beijing. (Master Wang has now trained five lineage holders outside the Wang family: Prof. Chen Huixian, Li Pingping, Teri Applegate, Jennifer Daly, and Kris Caldwell.)
A master, then? A master is someone who has practiced a qigong form long enough and gained a deep enough understanding of its methods and theories that s/he is considered to have "mastered" it. Many might like to claim to be a master but have perhaps not yet gained that level of discipline, while some who deserve the title might be reluctant to use it. For an example of the latter, we have our own Professor Chen Huixian. A qigong practitioner since 1982, and a lineage holder of Soaring Crane Qigong and Turtle Longevity Qigong (with the further authority to authorize teachers to train subsequent teachers of Essence Qigong, Super Energy Method, and Awakening Light Gong), she still asks to be called "professor" rather than "master." "You are each your own master," she tells her students, also citing that she considers herself still a student--she just happens to be the "student" in the room with the most experience when she is with her students (and the students of her students, and so on).
A grandmaster is someone who originated, or invented, a form of qigong. While a qigong form might have many masters, it generally will have only one grandmaster. The lineage of Soaring Crane Qigong is much shorter than that of our earlier example, Turtle Longevity Qigong. Because Soaring Crane was developed in the 1970's by Grandmaster Zhao Jinxiang with the specific intention of helping the Chinese people get their health back after going through the difficulties of the Cultural Revolution, there are fewer masters who carry the lineage forward. Tiantian School of Qigong's Soaring Crane Qigong program is esteemed to carry only a three-step lineage: Prof. Chen Huixian is Master Zhao's senior student, and Teri Applegate is Prof. Chen's senior student. Teri Applegate is also the only Westerner authorized by Master Zhao's Soaring Crane Qigong community to train and certify teachers of the Level I, II and III methods of the system, due in part to their recognition of her own high level of qi and her deep understanding of the Chinese Medical theory of the form.
A lineage holder is also the only person authorized to translate or write books, make DVDs, or record CDs about the qigong form of which s/he holds the lineage. We in the West are quite fortunate that Prof. Chen was a professor of English for many years prior to becoming involved with qigong. It is for this reason that the forms she brought to this country--Soaring Crane Qigong, Turtle Longevity Qigong, Essence Qigong, Awakening Light Gong, and Super Energy Method--have extensive materials in English available as a resource for the students practicing them. Many people I encounter who have taken qigong classes prior to beginning to learn one of these forms tell me they don't know the name of the qigong form they were taught, let alone its theories. This isn't their fault, as usually it is a language barrier that stands in the way of furthering their understanding of the form they are practicing. How grateful we are, within Prof. Chen's lineage, that we have the bountiful resources with which she has provided us.
Prof. Chen is a model teacher in that she encourages her students to travel to China to study with her own teachers. Below you will find more information about Prof. Chen as well as some of the other teachers who relate to her lineage, either as peers or as her teachers and mentors, and with whom Kris, Teri, and many of their Seattle community have traveled to China to study.
Professor Chen Huixian
Professor Charles Wu
Master Wang, Zhezhong
Professor Yu, Xiaofei
Master Zhang, Yulei
Master Ma, Chengkai
Master Cao, Manliang
Dr. Li, Shan-yu
Professor Chen Huixianphoto: K. Caldwell
Professor Chen taught English at the University of Business and Economics in Beijing for 22 years before being diagnosed with late stage metastatic breast cancer in 1982 at the age of 49. She recovered her health through the practice of Soaring Crane Qigong and later became a senior student and head assistant of its founder, Master Zhao Jin-xiang. With Master Zhao's encouragement, in 1992 Professor Chen came to America to begin teaching qigong to Westerners, and in 1993 she agreed to found and head the Qigong Department at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine. She fulfilled her original dream, training over three hundred qigong teachers through OCOM's Qigong Teacher Training Program before retiring from OCOM in 2001. Professor Chen continues to teach qigong and to lead qigong study trips to China in addition to her ongoing work to translate information on qigong into English so Westerners will have more resources to support their practice. In 2004 Professor Chen founded Wisdom and Peace Wellness Center in Vacaville, California. To learn more about the center and its programming, please visit www.wisdomandpeace.com.
photo: K. Caldwell
Charles Wu, Reed College Professor Emeritus of Chinese and Humanities, has had two careers in his life: as professor of English in China and professor of Chinese in the United States. In between he earned a Ph.D. in English literature from Columbia University. Professor Wu was introduced to Qigong by his college classmate, Prof. Chen. Together they co-founded the Wu Dao Jing She International Qigong Society based in Portland, Oregon. He has a strong interest in Chinese philosophy, particularly Daoism and Confucianism, and has given seminars to Qigong practitioners and other spiritual seekers. In recent years Professor Wu has been working on the culture of Chinese gardens in his capacity as Board member and cultural advisor of the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. He currently divides his time between Vacaville, California and Shanghai, China.
Prof. Wu was kind enough to travel to Seattle in 2005 to provide a delightful weekend workshop on Daoism for TTQG students. One student, a 20+ year Zen meditation practitioner, sums up the experience: "The weekend with Charles Wu was a marvel. He is a magnificent gentleman-scholar. His talks were some of the best I have heard." TTQG looks forward to hosting future workshops with Prof. Wu as his time allows.
Master Wang, Zhezhongphoto: S. McBride
Master Wang, Zhezhong is the 19th generation lineage holder of the Wang Family Turtle Longevity Qigong, a qigong system that has been practiced by the Wang Family for several hundred years. He began his training at the age of four by his grandfather. Finding Master Wang to be diligent and gifted, his grandfather passed on to him all the secrets and techniques unique to their family form. As the form was considered a family heirloom, the successive lineage holders of this form were not permitted to teach the form to the general public. Moved by the condition of the general public in the years following the Cultural Revolution, Master Wang broke with the family tradition after careful consideration and began to teach the form publicly in China. Student response was very enthusiastic, as the form was found to be tremendously effective. Turtle Longevity Qigong quickly gained an excellent reputation and came to be regarded as one of the best qigong forms in China.
Master Wang was later invited to teach in Japan and Canada, and the form was eventually introduced to the United States of America in 1993. Since that time, over 300 teachers of this form have been certified and countless students in the United States have benefited from this powerful healing practice. Master Wang has since decided that the lineage of his family's techniques will be passed on only to qualified Americans, and has chosen six of Professor Chen Huixian's students as candidates to train as lineage holders in the future.
Master Wang's many years of personal practice of his family's methods have developed in him a unique gift: the power to heal patients through talking to them. This therapeutic treatment has proven effective in person, via telephone, and via videotape. He was invited to demonstrate this unusual healing method in France, Malaysia, Singapore and Hongkong in 2004.
Professor Yu, Xiaofei
photo: K. Caldwell
Professor Yu Xiaofei was a graduate student of Astrophysics at Nanjing University. As a graduate student he began his studies in Buddhism and Daoism. Since his graduation, for over 20 years, he has been teaching Chinese philosophy, specializing in Buddhism, at a school of the leading personnell of the Chinese government.
In the late 1990s, Professor Yu became a very popular teacher in the Buddhist community, gaining a reputation as such a wise teacher that very high-ranking Buddhist masters came to study with him. Profound wisdom and knowledge are the hallmarks of Professor Yu's lectures. He is also an advocate of qigong, practicing and studying qigong deeply. He has worked very hard to promote qigong, giving many lectures on qigong and traditional Chinese culture. He has organized national conferences and symposiums of advanced qigong that have had significant influence in qigong's development in China. He now is focusing on studies of Sanskrit. He plans to retranslate Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into modern Chinese. Professor Yu's excellent reputation as scholar, teacher and lecturer in the Buddhist and qigong communities is well deserved and his contributions in all these fields will be remembered in history.
Master Zhang, Yuleiphoto: K. Caldwell
Master Zhang, Yulei is a former college professor of agriculture. He became interested in qigong as a college student and later became a Soaring Crane Qigong instructor. Inspired by the Universe, he developed Chinese Wisdom Qigong in the late 1970s. This form is so effective that millions of people have learned and practiced it. Master Zhang established centers all over China and became one of the most well-known qigong masters in China.
In general, qigong practice is contraindicated for mental illness. Chinese Wisdom Qigong is an exception, as it is the only form that is safe and effective in treating disorders of this kind. Many psychiatric patients have recovered their mental health through practice of this form. For many years Master Zhang has devoted himself to this cause. He loves his students like a father loves his children. He is legal guardian to several students who were rejected by their families and now live in the sanitarium where Master Zhang primarily teaches. In addition to training his students in qigong, he also cares for them 24 hours a day. Many of his patients have recovered their health under his care and have begun to live a normal life.
Master Zhang has published several books on the subject of qigong and mental illness including Non-Medical Therapy of Psychiatrics and Asking the Brain for Health. His contribution to this field of study and treatment is invaluable and gives cause for great hope among the Mental Health community here in the United States.
Master Ma, Chengkaiphoto: K. Caldwell
Master Ma, Chengkai is a former journalist. He became very ill in his late thirties, a result of overwork, becoming bed-ridden with terminal illness. Depressed, he began to question why people had to comply with their fate, rather than finding a way to help survive diseases.
In search of a cure, he visited many psychic healers for treatment. He experienced all kinds of different psychic healing methods. He discovered that the secret of psychic healing power lies in the way the healers think. He came to the conclusion that a super way of thinking links with super energy. Based on this idea, he studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, ancient Chinese philosophy and qigong theories. Fifteen years of research resulted in Master Ma's basic concept: the key to health, wisdom and enlightenment is in our own hands. Master Ma's method, the Super Energy Clapping Hands Method, has proven remarkably effective in stimulating self-healing. Upon introduction to the public, this method became one of the most popular qigong methods in China. Everywhere in China the sound of clapping hands could be heard on the roadsides or in the parks, early in the morning and in the evening. This form keeps people healthy, happy and connected, and will become very popular in the United States in the coming years.
Master Cao, Manliang photo: T. Applegate
The famous Chinese philosophical fable Journey to the West inspired Master Cao, as a small boy, to study martial arts. He admired the skills of the story's infamous Monkey King and began to train in martial arts at the age of 11, studying the martial arts of Shao Lin temple with a well-known Shaolin master. Two years later Master Cao had already become adept at many challenging martial arts techniques. During the Cultural Revolution he did not have as many opportunities to study, but later practiced diligently with his teacher. By the time he reached 18, he had already become a very prominent martial artist in China.
In 1983 he began his studies with Master Zhang Yulin, from whom he learned Zhen Qi Gong (Genuine Qi Gong), a form of qigong that works with the body's Genuine Qi to cultivate health and spiritual development. It is one of the oldest forms of qigong, dating back to the time of the Yellow Emperor (it is mentioned in the Huang Di Nei Jing) and thought to be the qigong form Laozi practiced. Master Cao has been teaching martial arts and qigong in China for more than twenty years and in 2006 traveled to the U.S. to share his expertise with Prof. Chen's qigong community.
 Dr. Li prefers not to have her image recorded on film; Lotus flower at the Panda Breeding Base in Chengdu photo: K. Caldwell |
Dr. Li, Shan-yu is a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and has studied Chinese Medicine, I Ching Medicine and Qigong for many years. After more than 10 years of hard work, on the basis of the results of her research she invented the Eight Trigram Digital Therapy. At one time Dr. Li had been physically very weak. She used this Digital Therapy method to treat herself consistently and regained her health. Since that time she has applied this therapy to her patients in combination with regular treatments and medication. Her patients experienced such rapid and complete healing that an increasing number of patients asked to be treated by her. Before long she became nationally famous for her new method of therapy. |
The therapy and the positive response to it were reported extensively in newspapers and magazines in China. In order to benefit more people, Dr. Li and her husband, Professor Li, Jianming, published two books: Eight Trigram Digital Therapy and The Miracles of Eight Trigram Digital Therapy. They were invited to attend many national and international medical conferences to introduce this groundbreaking new therapy. In 1997, Dr. Li began to train people all over China to be practitioners of her new healing method. In 2002, Dr. Li trained 30 of Professor Chen Huixian's students in this method, and in 2004 certified several of Professor Chen's students as Digital Therapists.