Qigong,
A CURE FOR CANCER AND CHRONIC, DEGENERATIVE DISEASES? A GLOBAL INTEREST
[This
is the full text of the paper presented at the
Second World Congress on Qigong held in San Francisco from 21st
to 23rd November 1997 by Grandmaster Wong
Kiew Kit, the recipient of the "Qigong Master of the Year" award.]
According
to statistics, one out of five persons in the United States suffers
from cancer, and the situation in other parts of the world is equally
bad. Yet, the top killer today, especially in developed countries,
is cardiovascular diseases. Other chronic, degenerative diseases like
asthma, diabetes, peptic ulcer, arthritis, rheumatism and other bodily
pains are also causing much suffering.
The crucial
point I wish to share with you today, and with the world, is that
cancer and chronic, degenerative diseases can be cured by practising
Qigong. This claim, made earnestly, is based not only on sound medical
philosophy but also on my many years' experience in curing patients
from these diseases. Many other Qigong masters also have similar success.
I shall present the philosophical explanation of Qigong cure in this
plenary session, then demonstrate relevant Qigong techniques in subsequent
workshops.
Sifu Wong presenting this paper at the Second World Qigong Congress
To understand
how and why practising Qigong can cure cancer and chronic, degenerative
diseases, it is necessary to be aware that the conventional western
medical paradigm is not the only correct way of looking at health
care and disease treatment. Another way, time-tested through many
centuries, is the traditional Chinese medical paradigm. It would be
inspiring for us to know that the Chinese medical system is the one
that has maintained the health and sanity of the world's largest population
for the longest period of known history.
According
to Chinese medical philosophy, there is no such a thing as an incurable
disease, although a patient may be incurable if his disease, even
a simple one, has done damage beyond a certain threshold. The starting
point of Chinese medical practice is that every person is by nature
healthy. Just a few minutes of reflection can verify the truth of
this premise.
All round
you, as well as around everyone in the world, are literally millions
and millions of germs that can cause deadly diseases. You are constantly
subjected to wear and tear inside your body, and exposed to all types
of stress as well as to powerful radiation from outer space. Yet,
despite allthese disease causing factors affecting you all the time,
you remain sane and healthy. Indeed, if not for our natural ability
to overcome diseases and regenerate ourselves, no one can stay alive
for even a short time.
Then,
why do diseases occur in some persons? It is because their body systems
have failed to adjust themselves to the disease causing environment.
In Chinese medical philosophy this failure is referred to as yin-yang
disharmony, yin symbolizing the body systems, and yang the disease
causing agents. Happily, the norm is yin-yang harmony: health is our
natural birth-right. Illness by whatever names we may label its symptoms,
is unnatural, and can be remedied.
Let us
take cancer as an example. It is an undeniable fact that we are literally
living in an ocean of carcinogens, and are bombarded by radiation
every moment. In other words, carcinogens and radiation that cause
cancer in one out of five persons in the United States and elsewhere
also affect the other four persons. Indeed, what we should ask is
not why one out of five persons gets cancer, but why four out of five
do not.
Actually,
according to cancer experts, everyone gets cancer not once or twice,
but thousands of times in his life-time, and the same thousands of
times he overcomes cancer usually without his conscious knowing. It
is only when a person's systems fail to function as they naturally
function that cancer or any illness surfaces as a clinical disease.
Let us
take another example, that of arteriosclerosis. If too much fat is
deposited at the inner walls of an artery, it will restrict the smooth
flow of flood, resulting in serious problems. As western medicine
at this present stage does not understand the cause of the symptoms
collectively labeled as arteriosclerosis, it cannot offer an effective
cure.
The public
have a general impression that if one eats too much fat, he is more
likely to have arteriosclerosis. But actually you and most people
take more fat than arteriosclerosis patients, yet you do not suffer
from the disease. This is because your body systems can adjust to
the fat, whereas the body systems of the patients have failed in their
natural function.
The therapeutic
approach in conventional medicine is to prescribe a particular treatment
for a particular disease. This is effective when the cause of the
disease is known, such as in malaria and tuberculosis. But when the
cause is unknown, as in cancer and chronic, degenerative diseases,
prescribing a treatment to cure the disease becomes theoretically
impossible. Treatment therefore is relegated to the purpose of relieving
symptoms, not actually relieving the disease.
You may
be interested to know that in Chinese medical philosophy, physicians
do not treat the disease -- they treat the patient. Chinese physicians
are not concerned with treating cancer or arteriosclerosis, but with
getting their patients well. Superficially, treating diseases and
restoring patients' health may appear the same, but a deeper examination
will show that they are crucially different, and in the case of cancer
and chronic, degenerative diseases, it is a difference of resignation
or hope, of suffering or recovery.
The Chinese
physicians restore the patients' health by restoring yin-yang harmony.
In more familiar western terms, it means restoring the natural ability
of the patients to overcome illness. Let us not forget that the same
factors that cause cancer or any chronic, degenerative disease in
a patient also affect other people, but other people do not succumb
to the disease despite the presence of disease causing factors because
their body systems function naturally to overcome them. More significantly,
before the onset of the disease, the patient himself has this natural
ability.
While
they may be countless immediate factors causing the body systems to
fail in their natural functions, the root cause is due to the following
two factors:
- Energy
blockage disrupting the flow of energy to work the body systems.
- Insufficient
energy to work the systems.
For example,
if the energy flow informing the body that there are cancer cells
or fat is interrupted, the body would not trigger the necessary natural
mechanism to adjust to the disease causing environment. Or if the
body does not have sufficient energy, it would not be able to adjust
to the environment effectively. After all, life is a meaningful flow
of energy. If this energy flow is disrupted or insufficient, illness
would occur.
Qigong
is the art of energy, and its fundamental objective is to promote
harmonious energy flow. In western terms, this means ensuring that
the energy that provides the feed-back system, that produces just
the right hormones in the body, that repairs wear and tear, that disposes
off toxic waste, that provides immunity and self defense, and that
does countless other tasks that keep you, me and everyone else healthy
and alive, is functioning naturally. This is achieved in two main
ways, which are also the two main aspects of Qigong training, namely:
- Clearing
energy blockage.
- Increasing
energy level.
When
energy blockage is cleared and when there is sufficient energy to
work the body's natural functions, yin-yang harmony is restored. Qigong
accomplishes this very well. Qigong is a viable and essential practice
for enhancing everyday life, as well as an effective factor in mainstream
health care. Medical professionals trained in other medical systems
apart from the Chinese, but interested to employ Qigong in their noble
work to save lives, need not abandon their own training. Qigong can
be effectively and rewardingly incorporated into their present practice.
This Second World Congress on Qigong
where some of the world best known Qigong masters and medical professionals
meet, provide the opportunity and platform for this urgent co-operation
for mutual benefit.