Customer Reviews

Life More Abundant: The Science of Zhineng Qigong Principles and Practices

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A previous reader commented that this was an unauthorised work, not sanctioned by Dr Pang - I would have appreciated some reference to back up this claim.

The ideal situation would be to be able to read in Chinese, the original works by Dr Pang,

The second best situation would be to be able to read English translations of Dr Pang's works, and then have to opportunity to digest and interpret this oneself

The third best situation would be to read someone else's interpretations of Dr Pang's ideas, which is what this is book purported to be - third best, because no matter how good the intentions, this must necessarily lead to dilution, pollution, omissions, additions.

Occupying a place somewhere below the best, second best and third best situation (I would hesitate to classify it as fourth best, because of the foreign material included, which has nothing whatsoever to do with Dr Pang's teachings), is where I would place this book. Joseph Marcello's contribution makes up a big chunk of this book, dedicated to advice on nutrition and alternative therapies - this part of the book feels like an add-on - I feel it is out of place in this work, and should never have been included - I have no problem with the information presented, and in fact, I have been using many of these ideas for decades - but, it feels wrong to include this as part of a work, supposedly based on the teachings of Dr Pang. Ditto for the quotes of other philosophers in the Joseph Marcello contribution - these are mentioned as supporting the philosophy of Dr Pang - once more, while interesting in itself, it feels out of place - almost as if Dr Pang's ideas need backing up by others - it just feels wrong to include this as part of a work supposedly based on the teachings of Dr Pang. I feel that I could (and might very well do so) rip off this last part of this book, and gain, rather than lose anything.

I have an English translation of some of Dr Pang's work, in his own words - he speaks plainly, and simply, and I have no difficulty following his ideas - I do not need someone to interpret these ideas, and then to spoon feed them to me. I believe that the authors have been honest in their intentions, but I do find it a little arrogant to give your own interpretation of such a great philosophy. What would have been correct, would have been to translate Dr Pang's writings word for word, so that each reader may know exactly what was said, and is then free to accept, reject, interpret or misinterpret these ideas for himself - as it stands now, if one has misgivings about the philosophy, one does not know if one is having doubts about Dr Pang's ideas, or about the authors' interpretation (no matter how honestly presented) of Dr Pang's ideas. This is unfortunate because it leaves me still not knowing exactly what the original teachings are - I am left wondering, is this what Dr Pang said, or is this what the author thinks he meant? I would have appreciated it very much if the authors had translated the original works, word for word, and then added their ideas in square brackets, so that one could know exactly who is saying what - in this way, I could compare my own interpretation of the original with the authors', without thinking that Dr Pang's philosophy is flawed.

The main reason I bought this book was to try and get a clearer understanding of exactly how to do some of the movements, and also what one should be visualising while doing each movement. While this book helped a little in this respect, it could have gone very much further - advice like, "retract your Adam's apple" - what does this mean - pull it up, pull it down - if so, why not just use plain English - instead it sounds as if you should draw it backwards towards your windpipe - if so, how? The same applies to many of the guidelines around visualisations - these are completely foreign ideas to minds not familiar with this philosophy, but they are explained very poorly, or hardly at all. If ever there was a place to spoon-feed the uninitiated reader, it was here - this is the place to go into detail, and to imagine the readers are five years old.

I am disappointed with this book, because I feel the author could have addressed the above-mentioned issues, and by so doing, have done a much better job (I say author, not authors, because I do believe that Joseph Marcello detracts from this work - I would be interested to read his contributions, but in a separate work, not as part of this one

This book does a great disservice to Zhineng(Chilel) qigong in the US. Although the fonder of Zhineng qigong is listed as an author of this book it is interesting to note that Dr. Pang had nothing to do with the production of this book. In fact when Ms. Jin asked Dr. Pang for permission to write the book he refused her. He also disapproved of the finished product. The resulting translation is a compilation of material from several of Dr. Pang's books. Ms. Jin with limited Zhineng training, appently does not understand the principles of Zhineng and in any event the translation is inaccurate and misleading. Mr. Marcello contributions to the book are really distressing. The other healing modalities addressed are are in no way a part of the system of Dr. Pang's magnificent system of qigong and adds further to the disservice done by this book. Finally the photos used to illustrate the form should have been of a person who can do the form correctly. There are many photos which are good examples of how not to do the form. I'm giving this book a one star rating only because it is the lowest rating permitted.

I bought 9 Qigong books, this is the best. Grandmaster Ming Pang's insights are profund and breathtaking. The details of the forms were so beautifully described which helped me a lot. I attended many workshops, none provided this extention and depths.

I look forward to a hardcopy of this book.

I can't imagine a better book on this subject. If you want to learn about this form of healing "from the horse's mouth," this is the book that will provide everything you want to know, and more. Highly recommended.

The book is excellent. A hardcover is a must for the second edition. It's truly a good "meal" for the hungry ChiLel/Zhineng practitioners.

So many new things I discovered in the book made me doubt the authenticity of the so called "ChiLel" teaching in North America. Is it really an offset of Zhineng Qigong?

We'd better explore it by ourselves.

The core parts of the book are obviously the best translations of Dr. Pang's teachings available up till now.

The supplementary materials are also very helpful and inspiring to qigong beginners.

The expoundation of the basic Zhineng Qigong theories and the detailed explanations of the Zhineng Qigong forms are more valuable compared to the expensive and simply-instructed retreats and workshops outside China.

The one-star reviewer either did not read the book at all or did it for ulterior purpose.

I bought this book a month ago & I have to say it's very well written & certainly the best book on zhineng qigong I've read so far, the amount of detail covered in the book was well thought out & well presented. Though I'm really looking forward to a book describing Master Zhankui Liu's teachings as well so that more perspective can be gained on top of Prof. Ming Pang's concepts.It seems that Prof. Ming Pang has been inactive for quite some time now & is Master Zhankui Liu taking over? Anyone know?

This book is an instruction book for the SERIOUS practioner of HEALING QiGong. I highly recommend this book. It goes into the scientific workings of QiGong.

The content of this book is amazing. It will benefit the people

The book contains vast amount of information about Zhineng Qigong- a new branch of life science. It is a very valuable resource.