Published in Common Ground, Fall 2002

Women and Spiritual Mastery: Master Qinyin Discusses Qigong,
Meditation and the Path of the Feminine 

by Andy Alpine

Master Qinyin is a renowned teacher and an award-winning Qigong innovator from China. She is creator of Qinway Qigong and founder of Qinway Qigong Institute in Oceanside, CA (near San Diego). Her break-through techniques have been featured in Qi Journal, The Empty Vessel Magazine, Kungfu Magazine, and more.

CG: What is it like as a woman to train in China in Qigong and meditation?

Qinyin: As a lady, I was fortunate to receive so much training in Qigong and meditation in China. In both Buddhist and Daoist traditions, they emphasize the student's origin or spiritual past (lives). Many of my high-level Qigong masters, who have special abilities, told me about my special "origin" and mission. Although now I feel comfortable with it, I was very confused and uneasy at that time. Why should I be different from other people? How do I associate with ordinary people? When I was young, I always tended to negate my spiritual past. When I received training from my Qigong masters (some of them are male masters), they didn't view me as simply a female. From the perspective of over three dimensions, sex doesn't make a difference. Qigong masters only look at your potential and "wisdom root". .

CG: Knowing that some of your teaching came through a woman teacher was it a feminine teaching? Is there an aspect to the teaching and the path that is more feminine than masculine?

Qinyin: My first meditation teacher is my maternal grandmother. What she taught me was general meditation, not tailored to ladies. Actually, in the 1980s and 1990s, Qigong was so popular in China that many Chinese women started to learn and practice Qigong. Many of my Qigong masters were female, including my mentor Abbess Huikong at Sacred Mt. Puto and later a Tibetan master. My male Qigong masters did not make much differences between their male or female students either.

In the Daoist tradition, there are some special Qigong trainings for ladies. For example, "Female Elixir Method" offers a different beginning Qigong technique for ladies. Another Qigong method is called "Kill Red Dragon", which means to stop or reverse monthly period for energy conservation and rejuvenation purposes.

In the Buddhist tradition, sexes do not matter very much. Buddhism emphasizes enlightenment, i.e. transcending to higher dimensions, where all beings are born from lotus, without sex denomination. For example, there was an abbess at Sacred Mt. Jiuhua, who left her body behind intact for years after she achieved enlightenment. What amazed her disciples was that when they opened the urn where her body was kept, they discovered that the abbess's two major female characteristics had disappeared. This is another testimonial that sexual differences do not exist in higher dimensions, while they exert huge influences in the human sphere.

CG: Has your reception as a woman Qigong teacher been different here in the United States?

Qinyin: Since I came to the US five years ago, I haven't felt much difference in being a woman Qigong teacher here. What impressed or challenged me the most are actually language and cultural differences. I was fully trained in Chinese classics, written in ancient Chinese, which is difficult even for an ordinary Chinese, just like Middle Age English is for an ordinary American. When I was teaching Qigong in China, my audience had a similar cultural background to mine. Now my American audience rarely has the same background, which sometimes limits the extent of my Qigong teaching.

Andy: Is it different working with women and men?

Qinyin: No matter I teach male or female students, I always get into a deep Qigong state, which temporarily empties sexual differences. I think my students view me more as a Qigong teacher than as a woman. However, when I give my students individual directions (especially in advanced classes, such as Qigong Retreats), I will factor their sexes in. Even here, sex is not so much important as the student's unique biological waves or spiritual past lives.

CG: Is there any reason we don't hear about more women Qigong teachers?

Qinyin: Traditionally, a woman Qigong master will probably encounter more difficulties or even sufferings in her training. She would have to strongly identify with her mission in order to be prepared for her career. Now our Qinway Qigong Institute offers a three-day Awakening Certification Program and a turn-key teaching system, which make it much easier for a woman to become Qigong instructor. Also modern society offers a larger pool of qualified women to become potential Qigong teachers. I hope that we will hear more about women Qigong instructors, who can better understand women's special needs.

CG: In traditional Buddhism, it was considered more difficult for women to reach enlightenment? Is that true? Was it because of women's monthly hormonal cycle or was it just from the male dominated societal view?

Qinyin: Traditional Buddhism originated from India, where social and sexual statuses played a significant role. Women at those times had less chance to be educated and function in public, and spent more time at home as a housewife. Hence, when founder Sakyamuni Buddha started his teachings ("turned the Dharma wheel initially") about 2,500 years ago, women had a weaker foundation and achieved less. Still, from Buddhist classics, we saw cases where women reached enlightenment. The low statistics for enlightened women is more a result of social environment and less from the nature of being female. In modern society, it is now easier for women to get educated and be active in almost all areas of human activities. From the higher-dimension point of view, some beings are sent to the human world to accomplish missions. Sometimes, it is convenient to assume female roles. A prominent example is Quanyin Buddha, who appeals to many women and actually wasn't a lady in heaven. Regarding women's monthly period, it is not so relevant for enlightenment. Menstruation is just like ocean tides, which is part of the natural laws governing women.

CG: On the other hand, some people say women are more sensitive then men. In your opinion, it is easier for women to develop special abilities because of their Yin nature?

Qinyin: Actually, one's sex doesn't play a big role in developing special abilities. In general, the later puberty starts, the easier it is to activate ones' special abilities. Special ability potentials are also closely related to one's past lives.

However, women's sensitivity, especially in emotions, does affect their spiritual practice. It has its pluses and minuses. On the one hand, women tend to use more intuition than logic. Too much logical thinking may become an obstacle for attaining emptiness. On the other hand, too much emotional fluctuation can be counter-productive. Hence, ladies need to learn to be more stable and constant in their spiritual practice.

CG: What are some of the primary health challenges for women in the 21^st century?

Qinyin: First of all, because of improper diet for many American women, their first menstruation came very early in their lives. For some it came at the age of 11 or 12. The sooner the puberty comes, the sooner the woman gets old (menopause in this case). Early menopause can cause big health problems. Specifically, they eat too much food without spirituality, i.e. food that is processed, refrigerated or put on shelves such as fast food or junk food. These kinds of food reduce the activities of cells, and makes the body obese and old.

The second issue is that we use more and more electrical/magnetic machines in our offices and homes. These tend to disrupt our normal biological frequencies. As a Qigong master, when I meditate at night, I can feel the disturbing waves if some machines aren't turned off. Ordinary people are not so sensitive to these waves, only because their bodies become numb due to blockages.

Another problem has to do with our fast-pace society nowadays. Many people take on too much stress. On the other hand, the current mainstream educational system does not include any decent knowledge about using natural energy or universal energy for self-healing. Therefore, many people still rely solely on drugs and are not open to the possibility of natural healing.

Also ladies usually care much about beautification, or how they look. However, the healthcare market only offers them superficial techniques for skin care. What they really need is an "internal shower" or fundamental cleansing triggered by an effective Qigong system.

CG: How can Qinway Qigong help women regarding these primary health challenges?

Qinyin: Once you already have health problems because of bad diet or lifestyle, improving your diet or lifestyle only helps to keep it from getting worse. But it's not sufficient to reverse it, since toxins and blockages have already built up in the body. Qinway Qigong offers instant connection to universal energy and six major ways of detoxification to push toxins out of the body. All exercises in Qinway Qigong are easy-to-follow and highly effective.

Regarding bad diet, Qinway Qigong has incorporated the ancient Daoist special diet Bigu technique. Bigu literally means "avoid grains", since grains contain too much fire. During Bigu, practitioners will eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, energy supplies (such as our Yin-Yang Healing Tea) in conjunction with Qigong exercises to accelerate the cleansing and detoxifying process. The result is fundamental healing and rejuvenation in a period as short as 11 days. Women are welcome to join my classes in San Diego area, and sometimes in the San Francisco bay area; or they can learn Qinway Qigong long distance by ordering the Qinway Qigong Self Study Kit.

For more information about Master Qinyin and her Qinway Qigong Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii, please call (808)255-7033, or visit www.qinway.org. Andy Alpine is the publisher of Common Ground.

Last updated 08/19/07.