SACRED MOUNTAIN SUMMER RETREAT
STUDYING TRADITIONAL CHINESE LIFE SCIENCE
Qigong, Chinese Medicine,
Five Element Emotional Healing
Organized by:
HERON INSTITUTE FOR LIFE SCIENCE
a not-for-profit organization
Traditional culture, in the quantum age, is being rediscovered as an immensely rich fountain of personal and scientific inspiration. China is one of the world's great quarries of traditional knowledge. Chinese wisdom, however, is highly personalized and can rarely be found in an institutionalized setting. It is still primarily through oral transmission that the gnostic arts and sciences of China are passed on.
Dr. Heiner Fruehauf learned Chinese medicine within the traditional discipleship setting in China, and subsequently established the Sacred Mountain Retreat Program for his students. Since 1994, students of Qigong, bodywork, herbal medicine, and related aspects of Chinese life science have journeyed to China with him to be instructed by local masters selected for the authenticity of their knowledge.
The summer of 2010 marks the first time in four years that Heiner is organizing
another Sacred Mountain Retreat. Reverend Mingchan, respected abbott of the
Jiashan Zen Monastery in Hunan, offered Heiner the opportunity to conduct classes
in Qigong and Chinese medicine in the privacy of his monastery. The monastery,
first established during the Song Dynasty (9th century) and located in the
natural environment of Jiashan National Park, represents one of the most important
monasteries in the history of the Chan/Zen tradition of Chinese Buddhism.
Abbott Mingchan is a spiritual visionary who has been instrumental in the Chinese renaissance of Wang Fengyi’s system of emotional healing. Wang Fengyi was a 19th century Mandchurian peasant saint who developed an intricate system of “virtue healing” rooted in Confucian wisdom tradition and five element methodology. While influential as an illuminated educator and healer in Northern China during the early 20th century, his treasure trove of medical teachings has been neglected in modern times. Under the sponsorship of the scholar-physician Prof. Liu Lihong and Abbot Mingchan, a group of master practitioners in the Wang Fengyi system have been able to initiate a renaissance of this unique modality of Chinese medicine by conducting “xingli liaobing” (Virtue Healing by Restoring Human Nature) retreats at Jiashan Monastery. Abbott Mingchan, Prof. Liu and a group of xingli master practitioners from Northern China will all be with us this summer to conduct a systematic Five Virtue retreat session for our group–marking the first time that Western participants have an opportunity to be systematically initiated into this vital system of healing.
This year’s program has purposefully been set in the Southern Chinese province of Hunan—the ancient kingdom of Chu. Due to the protected setting of this area, many traditional arts have survived more unscathed here than anywhere else in Asia. Hunan is recognized as one of the ancient cradles of medical culture, where tribal shamanism evolved into the complex system of Taoist hermit practice.
After meeting in the provincial capital of Changsha, our group will head straight
to Jiashan Nature Reserve, the location of Jiashan Monastery. During the first
week, participants will have an opportunity to be and study with Prof. Wang
Qingyu, one of China's few officially recognized authorities in the field of "Nourishing
Life" and Taoist medicine. Heiner’s main teacher has become more
reclusive in recent years, but has agreed to once again participate in a Sacred
Mountain retreat and conduct regular practice sessions in Qigong, meditation,
and the monastic martial arts. More specifically, Prof. Wang will transmit
the intricacies of the Fourteen Movements of the Jinjing School, one of the
esoteric long forms of classical Qigong that has rarely before been taught
in a public setting. This form blends the effervescent spirit and the animated
movements of the Shaolin “Transform Every Fiber in Your Body Classic” (Yijin
jing) with the age-old art of life-spring renewal known as Taoist inner alchemy.
During the second part of the retreat, we will be joined by Prof. Liu Lihong,
distinguished expert of classical Chinese medicine and former physician of
the late Khenpo Jikphun (spiritual head of the Nyingma sect of Tibetan Buddhism,
venerated as the reincarnation of the Buddha of Wisdom). Prof. Liu is a well
known speaker and author who recently emerged as one of China's most eminent
voices calling for a renaissance of classical Chinese medicine. He has accompanied
us as a Mountain Retreat master teacher since 1999, and has once again agreed
to share his latest insights into the deep strata of knowledge embedded in
the Chinese medical classics. As the main promoter of the Wang Fengyi Five
Virtue Healing System in China, he will focus on preparing us for the therapeutic
core part of the retreat that lies ahead of the group.
To read more about the five element system of healing at the core of this retreat, read Heiner’s article “All Disease Comes From the Heart: The Forgotten Role of the Emotions in Classical Chinese Medicine” at www. [link needs to be inserted]
In addition, Abbott Mingchan has offered to support the cultivational goal of our stay by allowing us to participate in the day-to-day activities of his monastery. We will be able to participate in the vegetarian meals, meditation practice, and chanting sessions conducted by the monks.
Altogether, it is our hope that from this dense fabric of lectures, practice
sessions, and performances will emerge a deep feeling for the way of Eastern
thinking, a sense of the profound value of traditional culture, and most of
all, a step forward in our journey of personal cultivation.
The various stages of the Program will be organized and conducted by Heiner Fruehauf, Wang Qingyu, Liu Lihong, and Liu Yousheng.
Heiner Fruehauf, Ph.D., L.Ac. has been trained in the field of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He has lived in China and Japan for five years, speaks fluent Chinese, and has been practicing the Chinese healing arts since 1980. He is the Founding Professor of the School of Classical Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon.
Prof. Wang Qingyu was born into a traditional martial arts family, and trained in the classical tradition of Chinese energy work around the hermitages and monasteries of China's holy mountains since age ten. He is the official lineage holder of the Jinjing style of Qigong, professor of martial arts and Taoist heritage at the Sichuan Academy of Cultural History, and former physician of China's Olympic diving team. He heads the Sichuan Association for Taoist Studies, and has recently established the Foundation for the Research and Preservation of the Science of Nourishing Life.
Prof. Liu Lihong is a senior professor at Guangxi College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the co-founder for the Institute for the Clinical Research of Classical Chinese Medicine. He also served as personal physician to H. H. Jigmey Phuntsok Dharmaraja, the great Tibetan Ningma master considered to be a reincarnation of Manjushri (Buddha of Wisdom). Dr. Liu’s Institute is at the forefront of a movement that aims at reviving the core values of classical Chinese medicine in China. As part of this effort, he published the revolutionary best-seller, Sikao zhongyi (Contemplating Chinese Medicine) in 2003, and archives written and video-taped classical materials.
Liu Yousheng is the most accomplished living practitioner of the Wang Fengyi
system of Five Virtue Healing. Like his teacher’s teacher (Wang Fengyi),
he is a kind and simple peasant saint who has dedicated the last 40 years of
his life entirely to healing others without asking for anything in return.
He regularly walks long distances in Northern China to conduct emotional healing
sessions in small villages, and receives patients with serious diseases from
all regions of China at his home in the Heilongjiang countryside.
SACRED MOUNTAIN RETREAT PROGRAM
Time: August 11-31, 2010
Content:
--Daily Qigong practice.
--Introduction to advanced aspects of Chinese and Tibetan
energy work, including "internal alchemy. "
--Lectures on Chinese medicine, Buddhism, Taoism, the Yijing,
the Shanghan Lun, and other aspects of traditional
Chinese culture
Admission:
Limited to applicants with serious cultivational intent (max. 25 participants);
subject to application and interview process
Cost: US $3,500. [A $1,500 non-refundable deposit must be received by February 1, 2010. Balance of $2,000 due by May 15, 2010.]
Checks are payable to the Heron Institute. In case of a withdrawal from the trip after May 15, only 25% of the balance can be refunded.
Includes: Transportation in China; room and board; admission fees; tuition.
Not included: Each participant is responsible for making their own arrangements for their airline ticket to Changsha; a one month single-entry PRC travel visa; and health and travel insurance.
Please note that the Heron Institute reserves the right to change the itinerary based on the specific needs of each group.
To receive an application form or additional information, please contact Sheron
Fruehauf, the Heron Institute’s office director, by e-mail (heron@classicalchinesemedicine.org),
fax (503-695-2968), or phone (503-695-2955).
Once the completed application questionnaire has been received by the Heron Institute, a staff person will contact you for a personal or telephone interview.