Robert Peng

I was born on March 7th, 1964 in Xiangtan, an industrial city in Hunan province, China. City life in my hometown centered on a large steel and iron plant that churned day and night nonstop. Nearly everyone in my neighborhood was involved in work relating to the plant, including my parents. My father worked as a master mason overseeing construction and my mother was a chef in one of the large kitchens that fed the hungry workers.

We lived in an apartment building across the street from a resort center that hosted government official and foreign dignitaries that came to visit the factory. A red brick wall surrounded the luxurious compound and it evoked the curiosity of the neighborhood children. Inside the resort were gardens and fruit trees and even a swimming pool. These indulgences inspired wild fantasies in the minds of kids accustomed to the concrete block homes common during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

When I was nearly eight years old I became sick. I had heart trouble and the doctor advised my mother that I should stay home and rest. I followed the instructions for a few days but then I got bored and snuck out of the house while my parents and three siblings were out.

One day I snuck into the resort and explored its marvels. One building caught my attention, the boiler room. I peeked inside and the kind-faced boiler room attendant invited me to come in and look at the fire. We became friends and I soon discovered that he was a former monk with extraordinary healing powers and top martial art skills who had relocated to Xiangtan after his monastery was disbanded by the authorities.

At the time, he went by the name of Mr. Tan but back in the monastery he was known as Xiao Yao (shiao-yao). Xiao Yao become my Qigong Master. He was extremely humble yet powerful as he demonstrated with incredible displays of his ability to emit Qi energy. Although he was an average sized man he could disable a large bull with slight tap to the forehead. When his gentle side came out birds would flock to him and he would play with them. He was sought after by people from all walks of life for his miraculous healings.

I spent nearly every free moment I had for the next ten years by his side. Then, the government allowed his monastery to reopen and he returned. Xiao Yao asked me to remain behind and complete my studies. I joined him at the monastery twice a year for winter and summer break and continued to study Qigong with him until he passed away in 1985 at the age of 96.

Xiao Yao trained me in the martial arts and then in the healing arts. He had me undergo intense purifications to refine my healing energies. One particular practice stands out. When I was fifteen, my Master had me do a hundred day water fast in a dark underground chamber located under the main temple of his monastery. He visited me daily to instruct me in advanced meditation practices.

During that ordeal I had many life changing experiences. Chief among them was an eight day period when I was swept away by a current of bliss and dissolved in what I can only describe as a dazzling Ocean of Peace. I remained in this state for eight days and nights. During this time I hardly breathed and my pulse was virtually undetectable. This condition is traditionally known as "Small Death, Big Life."

My eight day excursion into the void was profoundly transformative and as a result I awakened unusual spiritual powers and healing energies. For example, after the experience my hands buzzed with healing energy that felt like a powerful electric current.

I continued to practice Qigong and learn from Xiao Yao right until the end of his life. He died when I was a junior at the university majoring in English Literature. His passing rattled my life and it took me some time to adjust. After graduating I was offered a position by the languages department and I became an English teacher. I remained at the university for six years until the Open Door policy made it possible for me to teach Qigong publicly.

In 1992 I relocated to Hainan Island in southern China and opened up a Qigong clinic along with another Qigong healer. Soon we were treating government officials and foreign dignitaries. One of the people I treated was Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. He was impressed with his Qigong healing and he asked me to treat his daughter who suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Sue Hawke came to China the following year and six weeks later she returned back home completely healed. We became good friends and she invited me to come visit. In 1997, I was her guest in Sydney and I fell in love with the country and the people. With her family's help, I relocated to Australia where I taught and did Qigong healings for six years.

Then in 2001 I was invited to New York by a former patient, Blake Forster, a filmmaker I met in Australia. I loved the vibrancy and excitement of the Big Apple. After commuting back and forth a few times between America and Australia I moved permanently to the City.

Currently, I live in New York City and teach Qigong locally and travel the world to spread the wisdom of Qigong to people of all cultures and religions.