Mantak Chia (Chinese: 謝明德,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Xiè Míngdé, born April 24, 1944 in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

) is a

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

Master. Mantak Chia is the creator of the Healing Tao, Tao Yoga, Universal Healing Tao System, and Tao Garden Health Spa & Resort, located in the beautiful northern countryside of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The author of more than 60 books on Taoist practices, Mantak Chia has taught countless enthusiastic students the principles of Taoist internal arts over the past years. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages, which has made the Universal Healing Tao System global. He views himself primarily as a teacher.Chia & Winn (1984). Pg IV. Master Mantak Chia has been the only one named twice as Qigong Master of the Year by the International Congress of Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong in 1990 and 2012 and is also listed as number 18 of the 100 most Spiritually Influential people in The Watkins Review 2012.

Biography

Mantak Chia was born to a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

family in

in 1944. He was raised in a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

household, with his grandfather a

Baptist minister Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

and his mother a missionary. He began studying the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

method of "stilling the mind" at the age of six, and later studied

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

boxing,

T'ai chi ch'uan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...

Kung Fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

and

and Buddhist meditation practices from several masters. Of all his masters, the most influential one was Yi Eng (White Cloud), an

eremitic A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...

member of the

Dragon's Gate Dragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the sprin ...

sect of the

Quanzhen The Quanzhen School (全真: ''Quánzhēn''), also known as Completion of Authenticity, Complete Reality, and Complete Perfection is currently one of the two dominant denominations of Taoism in mainland China. It originated in Northern China in ...

(Complete Perfection) school of TaoismMiller (2006). Pg 268.Kohn (2008). Pg 221. (Chinese: 道家全眞龍門派), who taught Mantak Chia a complete Taoist training system and authorized him to teach and heal. Later, he studied Western

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and medical science for two years to better understand the physiological mechanisms behind healing energy. He established his first Universal Healing Tao school in Thailand in 1974 after systematizing his knowledge of Taoism. He founded the Universal Healing Tao Center (originally named the Taoist Esoteric Yoga Center) in New York in 1979. The center attracted a broad variety of European and American students, and some of them greatly helped him in teaching Taoist practices to western students. He returned to Thailand in 1994 and created the Universal Tao Training Center—Tao Garden—in

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

. He not only teaches at Tao Garden but also tours to other countries of the world to teach and promote the Healing Tao practices every year.

Spiritual Core

Rooted in traditional Taoist practices, Chia's teaching system develops integrated physical, mental and spiritual (energy) bodies internal to human beings. The focus is on developing human life energy — Qi — for self-healing and life transformation.

Lineage

Chia's lineage is that of the

sect of the

(Complete Perfection) school of Taoism (Chinese: 道家全眞龍門派). This sect takes the practical approach in studying Taoist Inner Alchemy (Chinese: 內丹實修派). It emphasizes knowledge and method that are effective to develop the states of inner experience and consciousness that are the birthright of all humans and accessible by all, without unnecessary rituals. After having inherited the complete Taoist internal spiritual cultivation system from his master, Yi Eng, Chia followed the master's instruction to teach it to others.

Nine Formulas

The first two formulas are probably the most famous parts of Mantak Chia's teaching. However, they are not the core of the system. The purpose of the two formulas is to invoke one's awareness of qi, to strengthen it, and to open important qi channels in one's body, such as the governor and functional channels. These practices build a solid foundation for later formulas. Sexual energy plays very important roles in qi cultivation. Taoist practitioners believe that the sexual energy accounts for a large part of the energy that a human body generates, and a person cannot achieve spiritual fulfillment without conserving and leveraging the power of the sexual energy. The first step of traditional inner alchemy (Chinese: 內丹) is transforming the material carrier of sexual energy (Jing) into Qi. The second formula lays a solid foundation for this purpose. However, because sex is a "hot" topic in a society, teaching sexual practices might be controversial. The third formula, Fusion, really starts inner alchemy practices. Inner alchemy traditionally has three stages: transforming jing to qi, transforming qi to shen, returning shen to void. Qi and shen are inner life energies with shen being a more refined level, and both originate from the same original universe force. In Kan Li practices, one should have developed strong qi of all kinds so that intercourses of different qi take place resulting in a qi entity, call qi pearl (Chinese: 內丹), inside one's own body. This process is often described by the analogy of intercourses of a female and a male which leads to a fertilized egg. The intensive qi activities create an internal energy body which becomes the center of further practices, and eventually, the internal body leads to Tao, reaching immortality. Cultivating the internal body and merging into Tao are the central practices of Taoist inner alchemy, which require great dedication and determination.

Reception

James Miller thinks that Mantak Chia's teachings of qi and cosmology is similar to the Taoist instructor Hua-ching Ni, but Chia's books lack discussion of philosophy, ethics or everyday practical advice. The system Chia presents is a narrowly focused system of

Qi Gong ''Qigong'' (), ''qi gong'', ''chi kung'', ''chi 'ung'', or ''chi gung'' () is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial-arts training. With roots in ...

rooted firmly in

neidan Neidan, or internal alchemy (), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan ...

. Machacek and Wilcox think that Chia's study of Taoist sexuality has the trend in Taoist writings intended for a Western audience, a combination of theoretical knowledge and personal experience, which leads to a proliferation of subjective and modern "love manuals" and expositions on the Taoist way of love. King's College scholar

Peter B. Clarke Peter Bernard Clarke (25 October 1940 – 24 June 2011) was a British scholar of religion and founding editor of the ''Journal of Contemporary Religion''.new religious movements A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

to have achieved an international following.Clarke (2006). Pg 277.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Mantak Chia and Maneewan. ''Chi Nei Tsang: Internal Organ Chi Massage, 1990 . * Clarke, John James. ''The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought''. Routledge, 2000. . * Clarke, Peter Bernard. ''New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world''.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 2006. . * Kohn, Livia. ''Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin''. University of Hawaii Press, 2008. . * Larthe, Christopher. "Mantak Chia – A Modern Taoist Master". Positive Health, July 1999 (Issue 42). * Machacek, David W. & Wilcox, Melissa M. ''Sexuality and the world's religions''. ABC-CLIO, 2003. . * Chia, Mantak and Winn, Michael. "Taoist Secrets of Love – Cultivating Male Sexual Energy". Aurora Press, 1984. . * Miller, James. ''Chinese religions in contemporary society''. ABC-CLIO, 2006. . * Chia, Mantak and Stone, Sarina. "Smiling Anatomy for Children, Level 1". Empowerment Through Knowledge, 2010. . * Chia, Mantak and Stone, Sarina. "Smiling Anatomy for Children, Level 2". Empowerment Through Knowledge, 2010. . * Chia, Mantak and Stone, Sarina. "Smiling Anatomy for Children, Level 3". Empowerment Through Knowledge, 2010. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chia, Mantak 1944 births Former Baptists Living people

Mantak Chia Mantak Chia (Chinese: 謝明德, Pinyin: Xiè Míngdé, born April 24, 1944 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a Taoist Master. Mantak Chia is the creator of the Healing Tao, Tao Yoga, Universal Healing Tao System, and Tao Garden Health Spa & Resort, loca ...

Taoist religious leaders