Life is full of surprises. For me, the biggest surprise in the last 13 years since my retirement has been to discover the potency of Qigong practice. When I signed up for the Yan Xin Qigong 12-week course in July 2004, I was only concerned about my health and getting rid of various afflictions like leg pain, sinus, dizzy spells et cetera.
Therefore, it came as a pleasant surprise to find out that the benefits of Qigong practice extended beyond the physical. Not only did my problem disappear and I became healthier, I also felt energized mentally, stable emotionally and calmer spiritually.
One of the highlights of my Qigong journey, which I felt had helped me to make good progress, is a series of three talks that I gave to my YXQG society. All three were on the relationship between Qigong practice and religious belief.
The first talk was on Islam, Qigong and Meditation in May 2005. I must say that it was a mindboggling topic. I took the liberty to re-title it to Islam, Qigong, Meditation and I so that I could adopt a more personal approach. No doubt, the inspiration came from the Hollywood blockbuster film The King and I.
Earlier I had used the same approach with some success in relating an anecdote that I called The Cockcroach and I. When I had trouble deciding on the heading of chapter four of my memoir, I decided to call it simply as Lee Kuan Yew and I. Some of my friends described it as an audacious move.
The second talk on Qigong and Religion came two months later. The third came the following year in mid-2006 when I combined the two and re-jigged it into Qigong, Religion and Spirituality.
From the three talks, I gained several insights:
First: The important role played by meditation in the birth of Islam. I would go as far as saying that without meditation, there would be no Quran. Without Quran, there would be no Islam.
The point that I want to make is that although meditation played a key role in Prophet’s Muhammad’s mission, yet meditation today plays no role in the spiritual lives of Muslims. In contrast, Buddhists do meditate as part of their religious rituals. Just as Muslims learn to pray, Buddhists learn to meditate.
Why? The answer that I like best is that: Prophets mediate; commoners pray. I think there is a lot of truth in it.
Second: Qigong, like Yoga, and like all religions too – has a spiritual dimension. Like all of them, it can be practised at various levels – just for its health benefits or for mental and spiritual enhancements.
What gives Qigong its spiritual dimension is the belief that one’s progress along the Qigong path depends on one’s level of virtue or de in Mandarin. The more virtuous you become, the calmer you are and the greater will be your ability to harness the Qi. The relationship is simple and direct.
This spiritualism is faith-free. Its main concern is with this world, and its rewards are here and now. The goal of Qigong is good health and a long and happy life, not everlasting life. The path of Qigong leads to self-awareness, calm and tranquility, and harmony with nature and the universe.
In Qigong philosophy, the Qi has existed since the beginning of time. It does not say who creates the Qi. Because of this, Qigong can co-exist with any religion. There is no reason why one cannot believe in the existence of the Qi and God at the same time. After all, if God creates everything, surely it can also include the Qi.
I like to make just one point. The Qi (universal energy) belongs to all humanity. It does not discriminate against anyone or favour any group based on race, language or culture. The Chinese do not have a monopoly, not do the Indians. They are the first to discover and to formulate the principles of cultivating the Qi.
Third: I was struck by the similarities between descriptions of the Qi by Qigong adherents and descriptions of God by believers in general and Sufis I particular. I have come across some references in Sufi literature that tends to equate God with nature. I guess the Christian conception of God and its attributes are roughly the same. For instance:
# God is all-powerful, all-knowing, not limited by time and space, so is the Qi.
# God can be found everywhere, including in the human heart, and everything reflected his glory, so is the Qi.
# Some descriptions of God almost equate him with light and energy, while scientific experiments have proved that Qi contain information, energy and matter.
That was how the thought of the Qi being the equivalent of the divine came to my mind when preparing the talk. I ask the question: Is Qi God? Is God Qi.
Fourth: For the first time, I was able to see clearly how religion can be practised in various ways and its links to culture, philosophy and spirituality.
All religions can be analysed from three aspects: its theology, its value system and its practices or rituals.
Theology refers to the body of beliefs regarding who is God, the origins of the universe, Heaven and Hell and what happens after death and the accountability of one’s action on earth. There is the Christian version, the Muslim version and so on.
All religions also preach a set of desired ethical values and attributes for their followers. Though there is a great deal of overlapping, you can still identify differences in emphasis. For instance, Christianity place priority on charity and forgiveness and Islam on zakat, equality of all before God and responsibility of the individual to self, family and community.
All have also formulated a set of practices and rituals to reinforce belief, create identity and forge a community of followers.
The extent of one’s commitments to the three will shape and determine the extent of one’s belief in the religion. You can develop a scale for religiosity and measure followers on the degree of their religiosity and the interplay between religion and culture and philosophy.
Religiosity: Positive type: believe strongly in the theology, practice the rituals zealously and subscribed to the ethical values and spirit of chivalry, humanity, charity and responsibility.
Religiosity: Negative type: believe strongly in the theology, practice the rituals zealously but only pay lip service to the values and the spirit of the religion.
Culture: No faith in the theology, but practice the rituals and to some extent subscribe to the values of the religion
Philosophy: Practice the ethical value system and the spirit of the religion zealously and occasionally the rituals, but deny the theology. Some of them in this group are also spiritualists.
Mysticism refers to the search for truth, knowledge and unity with God through meditation and prayer.
I define spirituality as feelings of self-transcendence and connectivity with the universe and results in the love of nature and reverence for all forms of life.
The point I want to stress is that religiosity is not the same as spirituality. Some generalizations:
You can be very religious without being spiritual and vice versa.
Religion, if not practised in the right spirit, undermines spirituality.
Spirituality can be inherited through the genes, but religiosity is always the result of nurture.
After the three talks, I became calmer as I could resolve my inner conflicts and I could categorise myself precisely along the believer-unbeliever continuum.
Coming to my memoir, I never planned to write one, but several strands came together late in life in early 2007 that triggered me off on this journey back in time.
The primary motivation was to express my evolving feelings and attitudes towards Islam and its practices and secondly was to round up my thoughts on the state of politics and communal relations in both Singapore and Malaysia. The desire to relate my Qigong journey was a minor aspect. The rest are padding to build up the story.
Incidentally, a memoir is not autobiography, much less history or documentary. I have adopted the position of contemporary American writer Gore Vidal, who defines a memoir as ‘’how one remember one’s life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double- checked.’’
From the beginning, I drew up only two rules to guide me in the course of writing. One is to treat everyone, big or small, powerful or weak, friend or foe with the same ‘’irreverent approach and the same nonchalant brush.’’
The second is to strive to be fair to all, to try to view the people that I meet and the issues that I encounter on my journey, from various perspectives. I never consciously try to pull my punches or to zero in on any one or group in particular.
In short, I try my best to adopt the perspective of a independent observer, trying to rise above the circumstances of race, religion, nationality and personal prejudices and biases.
Some readers have told me that they think I still hold my punches. I would like to say that it was not deliberate. Perhaps it arose out of my desire to try to be fair to all parties and to try and look at the big picture.
As an example, take the Wah Piow. I wrote: ‘’I was convined that Wah Piow and two others had not rioted.’’ And, relating to former Attorney General Francis T Seow’s description of his trial as partisan justice, I wrote: ‘’I had earlier thought so too.’’ Are these examples of pulling my punches?
To me, I am happy that I have made crystal clear where I stood on the various controversies that I have lived through. Be it on the question of merger and separation between Singapore and Malaysia, the Tan Wah Piow case, the Marxist conspiracy, the role of the late Mr Opposition, JB Jeyaretnam, and the discrimination of Malays in the Singapore security services.
In the same spirit, I have given free reins to my view on Islam and how it ought to be practiced. Some of the points that I like to reaffirm include:
# There is no compulsion in religion. Muslims also should have the right to decide the extent that they want to practice or even to leave for another, no ifs and no buts. In Islam, there is no intermediary. Each Muslim must decide for himself.
# Being a Muslim is a joy and not a burden. Islam came to this world as a blessing, as a guide to make life easier, to help man resolve his dilemma. It is up to the individual to decide. The choice is yours.
# What is important is to be imbued with the spirit of Islam and its ethical values – the spirit of brotherhood and equality among all humans, charity towards the less fortunate and the sense of responsibility to self, family, community and nation.
One of the reasons for writing so frankly is the hope that I could persuade the disillusioned within our ranks to remain faithful to Islam. As you know, there have been cases of very qualified Muslims abandoning their faith. The message that I like to pass to such people is that “it’s the singer, not the song.’’
After the publication of my memoir, my feelings on several issues relating to Islam and uts practices became even clearer.
One: I feel more strongly that Islam should be as inclusive as possible to include all those who consider themselves as Muslims. We should accept those who practice Islam as culture or as a philosophical way of life including the ‘’abangans’’ in our midst. We should minimise our differences and underplay our identity in the respective sects such as Sunnis or Syiah or Hanbali, Maliki et cetera.
In this way, we can play our part and make our little contribution towards promoting Islam as a universal religion for all humans.
Two: I am more convinced that Islam is for this world too, and not just a vehicle for seeking salvation in the next world. In short, one has to practice it simultaneously, for this world and for the next. Therefore, we need to re-orientate the teachings of Islam.
Up to today, the conventional approach is that being a Muslim is a burden. We have to discharge our duties to God in the form of daily prayers et cetera to gain credit for the world that is to come. Salat or prayers as taught consist mainly of recitations, postures and pleas for favours.
I am not qualified to talk about Islam and the next world. My main interest is how Muslims can practice their religion in a way that will bring positive and immediate benefits in this world. To put it in another way, how can Islam help one maximize one’s chances of reaching one’s potential in this world.
To illustrate with a concrete example, let us take someone who spends about 8 to 10 hours a week in prayers and related matters. I have nothing to say about the rewards that he will get in the next world. That is strictly between him and Allah.
What are the rewards for this world? What does he get back after spending 10 hours in the discharge of his religious duties? Does her get nothing, two hours, 10 hours or 20 hours back of benefits?
To me, to be able to compete with others including the non-believers, we must get back at least the same hours that we put in. Otherwise, we will be placing ourselves at a disadvantage. If we can get returns several fold then the advantage will accrue to us.
In this area, I have enough experience and knowledge to make several tentative observations. Like, for instance:
To get any benefit from praying, fasting or Quranic recitation, you will have to perform them with love and focus, not out of fear or in anticipation of rewards.
It is just like bathing. If you force yourself to bathe and consider it a chore, you will end up only with a clean body. If you enjoy bathing, you will not only have a clean body but you will also be calmer and satisfied.
Let me digress for a minute to talk about my meeting several months ago with a Malaysian medical doctor, Dr Amir Farid Isahak, who is also a Qigong master. He writes on Qigong fortnightly for the Star newspaper and has a web page dedicated to supergigong.com
Coincidentally our views are quite similar. According to him, the five daily prayers and the monthly fast, if practiced correctly, will bring an abundance of benefits for this world. He stresses on adopting the right postures and breathing techniques during prayers. These are universal principles, not qigong or yoga or western principles.
Dr Amir even gave a demonstration at the surau in the Tanjung Puteri resort in Kuala Sedili Besar.
The same applies to fasting practices among Muslims. Do you get the benefits of this world or only its harmful side-effects? I can imagine the harm to the body of gorging on food after a day long fast.
Prayers and religious rituals, Qigong and Yoga practices and meditation have something in common. At the beginning, they are considered by followers as a burden that they have to bear in order to receive the promised benefits.
The first challenge is to incorporate them into one’s daily cycle. It is a question of finding the time. The second is the challenge of practicing it with love and focus. If you fail, it will in all likelihood degenerate into a routine habit.
I believe that Islam can be like a one-stop agency that fills the needs of all for this world and the next.
