Ching Hai, one of the fastest-growing cults in the world
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 04:17AM
Note how its changed since 1996?
Margaret Singer, one of the worlds top cult experts at the time, saw little End Times stuff. But that has now changed, why? Probably just greed and what works. If you scare the life out of followers, they give more money, they will do what you want them to do.
Fear works, and the bigger the fear, the more it works.
[www.metroactive.com]
-----------QUOTE---------------------
"It looks to me like one of the fastest-growing cults in the world," says Dr. Margaret Singer, perhaps the country's first and foremost cult expert. Dr. Singer, who has been following modern cults since their appearance in the late 1950s (she cites the Moonies, the Hare Krishnas and the TM movement as the earliest examples), ....
Only within the last nine or ten months has she begun receiving calls from men and women--just over a dozen of them, and almost all from San Francisco and San Jose-- who have lost their spouses to the Ching Hai organization. "Almost everyone I talked to," she says, "had lost a partner--a girlfriend, a husband--because they had given up everything to go to work in a restaurant or join the group."
Singer says that the callers also complained about the tremendous sums of money their spouses gave to the Ching Hai organization. "Husbands and wives would be very distressed about the amount of money the spouse paid for trinkets," she says. From what she heard, she says, it seems the Ching Hai group pressures its members to buy merchandise. "They would have meetings where they would sell these trinkets, and the asking price would be five dollars, but the group would urge people to pay more and more, like $50."
Singer sees this group as dominated by its leader's personality and ego. "Ching Hai seems to have fantasies about being around lots of people, educated people, wearing fancy clothes and having a lot of power. But she doesn't seem to have fantasies about suicidal revolutions or apocalyptic endings."
-------------------------------------------
Margaret Singer, one of the worlds top cult experts at the time, saw little End Times stuff. But that has now changed, why? Probably just greed and what works. If you scare the life out of followers, they give more money, they will do what you want them to do.
Fear works, and the bigger the fear, the more it works.
[www.metroactive.com]
-----------QUOTE---------------------
"It looks to me like one of the fastest-growing cults in the world," says Dr. Margaret Singer, perhaps the country's first and foremost cult expert. Dr. Singer, who has been following modern cults since their appearance in the late 1950s (she cites the Moonies, the Hare Krishnas and the TM movement as the earliest examples), ....
Only within the last nine or ten months has she begun receiving calls from men and women--just over a dozen of them, and almost all from San Francisco and San Jose-- who have lost their spouses to the Ching Hai organization. "Almost everyone I talked to," she says, "had lost a partner--a girlfriend, a husband--because they had given up everything to go to work in a restaurant or join the group."
Singer says that the callers also complained about the tremendous sums of money their spouses gave to the Ching Hai organization. "Husbands and wives would be very distressed about the amount of money the spouse paid for trinkets," she says. From what she heard, she says, it seems the Ching Hai group pressures its members to buy merchandise. "They would have meetings where they would sell these trinkets, and the asking price would be five dollars, but the group would urge people to pay more and more, like $50."
Singer sees this group as dominated by its leader's personality and ego. "Ching Hai seems to have fantasies about being around lots of people, educated people, wearing fancy clothes and having a lot of power. But she doesn't seem to have fantasies about suicidal revolutions or apocalyptic endings."
-------------------------------------------
Re: Ching Hai, one of the fastest-growing cults in the world
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 04:37AM
yikes, had not read the entire article previously.
[www.metroactive.com]
[www.culteducation.com]
Hue Dang Trinh aka Supreme Master, learned at the feet of an atrocious and terrible abuser of a Guru Thakar Singh.
One can almost always trace Gurus back to where they learned how to do where they do, that is, learned the techniques of persuasion and how to manage their followers.
-------------quote---------------------
"Thakar Singh, who had just splintered off from a Buddhist order, Radhasoami, to form his own sect, Kirpal Light Satsang.
"Thakar Singh turned out to be the most scandalous guru in the history of Radhasoami," writes David Christopher Lane, who while a graduate student at UC- Berkeley met Singh in India in 1978 and has since traced the guru's checkered career. According to Lane's findings: "By the mid-1980s reports circulated throughout the world about how Thakar had embezzled money, indulged in sexual affairs with numerous women, and had engaged in violent interactions with disciples." Some of the accusations included tying women up and beating them regularly. But by the time Singh's crimes came to light, Ching Hai had already learned from him the "light and sound" meditation technique, and had left for Taiwan."
----------------------------------
[www.metroactive.com]
[www.culteducation.com]
Hue Dang Trinh aka Supreme Master, learned at the feet of an atrocious and terrible abuser of a Guru Thakar Singh.
One can almost always trace Gurus back to where they learned how to do where they do, that is, learned the techniques of persuasion and how to manage their followers.
-------------quote---------------------
"Thakar Singh, who had just splintered off from a Buddhist order, Radhasoami, to form his own sect, Kirpal Light Satsang.
"Thakar Singh turned out to be the most scandalous guru in the history of Radhasoami," writes David Christopher Lane, who while a graduate student at UC- Berkeley met Singh in India in 1978 and has since traced the guru's checkered career. According to Lane's findings: "By the mid-1980s reports circulated throughout the world about how Thakar had embezzled money, indulged in sexual affairs with numerous women, and had engaged in violent interactions with disciples." Some of the accusations included tying women up and beating them regularly. But by the time Singh's crimes came to light, Ching Hai had already learned from him the "light and sound" meditation technique, and had left for Taiwan."
----------------------------------
Re: Ching Hai, one of the fastest-growing cults in the world
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 04:57AM
Re: Ching Hai, fastest-growing cults, breatharianism
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 05:18AM
Was going to ask if there was a Ching Hai link to the breatharianism fraud [www.culteducation.com] as it seemed to be going in that direction.
Well what do you know.
Supreme Master Cult - not eating is best!
[www.veganfitness.net]
inedia (breatharianism) [www.skepdic.com]
All Ms Ching Hai is doing, is ratcheting up the pressure, turning up the heat. You give the followers impossible objectives they can never meet, and then they are always failing, and look to you for more guidance, more books, more DVD's, more donations.
This woman is very clever, and highly skilled in mass manipulation of her target audience, and their vulnerabilities.
It does seem that the Ching Hai Doomsday stuff is just her technique to light a fire under her followers, to get them to work harder, and buy more, and donate more.
You can bet Ching Hai knows full well its a scam, but tells herself that her "children" are lazy, and won't do anything unless they are scared. So she scares them into action, to work harder and donate more.
Ching Hai knows the world is not ending, she has hundreds more restaurants to open over the next 10 years. Research if her contracts with debtors/vendors expire in 2012.
Not a chance, business as usual.
And she knows, ya gotta use fear to move people, and the more fear the better.
She uses fear and disgust as the stick.
And love-bombing and beauty as the carrot.
Ching Hai is a clever leader, who has figured out how to do it, and has worked hard for decades figuring it all out. She also seems to be the one calling the shots, and not a figurehead in any way.
Well what do you know.
Supreme Master Cult - not eating is best!
[www.veganfitness.net]
inedia (breatharianism) [www.skepdic.com]
All Ms Ching Hai is doing, is ratcheting up the pressure, turning up the heat. You give the followers impossible objectives they can never meet, and then they are always failing, and look to you for more guidance, more books, more DVD's, more donations.
This woman is very clever, and highly skilled in mass manipulation of her target audience, and their vulnerabilities.
It does seem that the Ching Hai Doomsday stuff is just her technique to light a fire under her followers, to get them to work harder, and buy more, and donate more.
You can bet Ching Hai knows full well its a scam, but tells herself that her "children" are lazy, and won't do anything unless they are scared. So she scares them into action, to work harder and donate more.
Ching Hai knows the world is not ending, she has hundreds more restaurants to open over the next 10 years. Research if her contracts with debtors/vendors expire in 2012.
Not a chance, business as usual.
And she knows, ya gotta use fear to move people, and the more fear the better.
She uses fear and disgust as the stick.
And love-bombing and beauty as the carrot.
Ching Hai is a clever leader, who has figured out how to do it, and has worked hard for decades figuring it all out. She also seems to be the one calling the shots, and not a figurehead in any way.
Re: Ching Hai, fastest-growing cults, divorce
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 05:33AM
@ Koldin
Perhaps you could cross-post that letter into this thread too, as its often helpful to have the key information in one thread.
Open Letter To Supreme Master Ching Hai
[forum.culteducation.com]
Perhaps you could cross-post that letter into this thread too, as its often helpful to have the key information in one thread.
Open Letter To Supreme Master Ching Hai
[forum.culteducation.com]
Re: Ching Hai, fastest-growing cults, divorce
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 05:38AM
Ching Hai appears to push a lot of people to divorce their families, and focus totally on her.
[www.dailypost.co.uk]
Cult took my wife – now it’s funding a woodland in North Wales
May 14 2010 by Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post
AN ELDERLY man who lost his wife to a religious cult has pleaded with the Woodland Trust not to take money from the group.
Henry Iban said he was “dismayed and saddened” that Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust in Wales) accepted £100,000 from spiritual teacher Supreme Master Ching Hai. The money is to be used to buy and restore Cwm Mynach, a 1,000-acre valley near Dolgellau.
Coed Cadw, which has defended the gift, hopes to complete the deal in the next few days.
Mr Iban – not his real name – said the money had been donated to “buy credibility” for Ching Hai. He urged Coed Cadw to return the money, as President Clinton and the US Red Cross did with similar donations when they learned more about the organisation.
In a letter to the Trust, he wrote: “I recognise fully that you need funds for the Welsh project.
“But those of us who have had the lives of our families severely and irreversibly damaged by this cult, believe that such donations are in effect blood money.”
Mr Iban refuses to use his real name. A retired senior professional in London, he said his wife, an academic, became embroiled with the cult 12 years ago.
After her behaviour and spending became erratic, they divorced, leaving Mr Iban to fend for his 10-year-old son.
“She would disappear at a moment’s notice when the Supreme Master called, once on Christmas Eve,” he said. “Often it was for months at a time – we didn’t even know what continent she was on.
“It put a drain on the family. She had a well-paid job, which she lost, and she started buying the cult’s jewellery at £7,000-£8,000-per-item.
“I tried to accommodate her but it was difficult – in the end I filed for divorce to protect the family finances.”
His wife was always interested in Eastern mysticism and she fell into the cult’s clutches at a spiritualist fair in London.
At first Mr Iban failed to recognise the dangers and indulged her new passion. But when he researched the group, he found the world’s fastest growing cult was alarming cult watchers.
As well as being a painter, poet and Buddhist nun, Vietnamese-born Ching Hai is a fashion designer and beauty makeover consultant.
Her group promotes vegetarianism and claims to support tree planting and efforts to curb climate change.
In the US, however, Ching Hai was criticised after causing $1m damage to a mangrove plantation in a national park.
...
Mr Iban is undeterred. He alleged Ching Hai had not only broken up his marriage, it had extracted “very large sums of money” from his family which was now being used to finance projects like Cym Mynach.
...
---------------------------------
[www.dailypost.co.uk]
Cult took my wife – now it’s funding a woodland in North Wales
May 14 2010 by Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post
AN ELDERLY man who lost his wife to a religious cult has pleaded with the Woodland Trust not to take money from the group.
Henry Iban said he was “dismayed and saddened” that Coed Cadw (the Woodland Trust in Wales) accepted £100,000 from spiritual teacher Supreme Master Ching Hai. The money is to be used to buy and restore Cwm Mynach, a 1,000-acre valley near Dolgellau.
Coed Cadw, which has defended the gift, hopes to complete the deal in the next few days.
Mr Iban – not his real name – said the money had been donated to “buy credibility” for Ching Hai. He urged Coed Cadw to return the money, as President Clinton and the US Red Cross did with similar donations when they learned more about the organisation.
In a letter to the Trust, he wrote: “I recognise fully that you need funds for the Welsh project.
“But those of us who have had the lives of our families severely and irreversibly damaged by this cult, believe that such donations are in effect blood money.”
Mr Iban refuses to use his real name. A retired senior professional in London, he said his wife, an academic, became embroiled with the cult 12 years ago.
After her behaviour and spending became erratic, they divorced, leaving Mr Iban to fend for his 10-year-old son.
“She would disappear at a moment’s notice when the Supreme Master called, once on Christmas Eve,” he said. “Often it was for months at a time – we didn’t even know what continent she was on.
“It put a drain on the family. She had a well-paid job, which she lost, and she started buying the cult’s jewellery at £7,000-£8,000-per-item.
“I tried to accommodate her but it was difficult – in the end I filed for divorce to protect the family finances.”
His wife was always interested in Eastern mysticism and she fell into the cult’s clutches at a spiritualist fair in London.
At first Mr Iban failed to recognise the dangers and indulged her new passion. But when he researched the group, he found the world’s fastest growing cult was alarming cult watchers.
As well as being a painter, poet and Buddhist nun, Vietnamese-born Ching Hai is a fashion designer and beauty makeover consultant.
Her group promotes vegetarianism and claims to support tree planting and efforts to curb climate change.
In the US, however, Ching Hai was criticised after causing $1m damage to a mangrove plantation in a national park.
...
Mr Iban is undeterred. He alleged Ching Hai had not only broken up his marriage, it had extracted “very large sums of money” from his family which was now being used to finance projects like Cym Mynach.
...
---------------------------------
Re: Ching Hai, fastest-growing cults, breatharianism
Posted by:
dynamic
()
Date: April 05, 2011 05:41AM
LOL, what a sham with breatharianism. Everyone is motivated by a fella that SMTV interviewed named Jerico Sunfire, who claims to be bretharian, but has not been scientificially proven. Yes, they are on a fevered pitch towards not eating. Latest email from the group stated that the end of world is near and to refrain from going out in the public, eating too much, and meditate more. Some in the group is moving towards the raw vegan food movement, which has it's own merits, but is a bit extreme in itself.
On the meditation and chanting, actually, it's 2.5hrs a day reciting 5 holy names, not her name. The 5 holy names are easily googled and not top secret like they say it is. In addition, for those that attended the Thailand retreat and a few others, there is a chant called "the gift" which is really a bizzare haiku like poem that makes no sense, but its all about belonging to god. But, no, nothing about chanting her name directly.
As for resturants, before, they were predominately run as volunteer staffed, but as more and more scandal broke about staffing and volunteers became burned out, some now have paid employees, mostly the cooks. The waitstaff typically are the owners(obviously working for little to no compensation) or unpaid volunteers. The resturant business is a harsh business for most with slim profits. Running it with no experience in business or training is a disaster waiting to happen. Some in better locations like NYC are doing pretty well without relying on volunteer staff though.
On SMTV, though thats a totally different thing. All are unpaid volunteers, with the closest circle, the ones hosting the programs, have made it their lifes mission giving up everything and one even "donated" all of his property to master for the cause, i heard rumors of over a million dollar retirement plan. Most volunteers work from home and a handful in the California location. There have been scandal of people volunteering to work from overseas on a travel visa and overstaying their visa, so they arrange for sham marrages to avoid having to go back to their home country and keep working in Cali.
Faith is a funny thing.
On the meditation and chanting, actually, it's 2.5hrs a day reciting 5 holy names, not her name. The 5 holy names are easily googled and not top secret like they say it is. In addition, for those that attended the Thailand retreat and a few others, there is a chant called "the gift" which is really a bizzare haiku like poem that makes no sense, but its all about belonging to god. But, no, nothing about chanting her name directly.
As for resturants, before, they were predominately run as volunteer staffed, but as more and more scandal broke about staffing and volunteers became burned out, some now have paid employees, mostly the cooks. The waitstaff typically are the owners(obviously working for little to no compensation) or unpaid volunteers. The resturant business is a harsh business for most with slim profits. Running it with no experience in business or training is a disaster waiting to happen. Some in better locations like NYC are doing pretty well without relying on volunteer staff though.
On SMTV, though thats a totally different thing. All are unpaid volunteers, with the closest circle, the ones hosting the programs, have made it their lifes mission giving up everything and one even "donated" all of his property to master for the cause, i heard rumors of over a million dollar retirement plan. Most volunteers work from home and a handful in the California location. There have been scandal of people volunteering to work from overseas on a travel visa and overstaying their visa, so they arrange for sham marrages to avoid having to go back to their home country and keep working in Cali.
Faith is a funny thing.
Re: Ching Hai, fastest-growing cults, breatharianism
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 10:48AM
Interesting about the Loving Hut franchise.
Again, it shows how clever Ching Hai is. Because if a follower is going to go so far to dump all that money into a restaurant, then of course they are going to buy her special imported food. As they believe in her, and would obviously believe the food is blessed, or whatever, and specially made, and not contaminated like the rest of the worlds food, etc.
So they will pay the organic prices. (and who really knows if it really is organic or not? Who is certifying all the ingredients?).
And taking a close look at one of the newer stores, you see it is a highly controlled situation. The signage is very expensive, clearly designed by Ching Hai herself, that is her logo.
And somewhere in the franchise contract, there will have to be a clause where she can revoke the license to use her trademarks.
So just like Byron Katie, Ching Hai ends up with TOTAL CONTROL over her followers livelihood. If she decides you are out, you are out.
And seeing the actual TV screens is interesting. A small place, with a flat-screen TV on every wall, brainwashing everyone who comes into there.
But its all designed like a Starbucks or new McDonalds, you can be sure Ching Hai would love to open up thousands of those on every block, to "save the world" of course.
And become a billionaire.
Anyone who got out of the Loving Hut money-pit before they got into it, should count their lucky stars and good common sense.
Again, it shows how clever Ching Hai is. Because if a follower is going to go so far to dump all that money into a restaurant, then of course they are going to buy her special imported food. As they believe in her, and would obviously believe the food is blessed, or whatever, and specially made, and not contaminated like the rest of the worlds food, etc.
So they will pay the organic prices. (and who really knows if it really is organic or not? Who is certifying all the ingredients?).
And taking a close look at one of the newer stores, you see it is a highly controlled situation. The signage is very expensive, clearly designed by Ching Hai herself, that is her logo.
And somewhere in the franchise contract, there will have to be a clause where she can revoke the license to use her trademarks.
So just like Byron Katie, Ching Hai ends up with TOTAL CONTROL over her followers livelihood. If she decides you are out, you are out.
And seeing the actual TV screens is interesting. A small place, with a flat-screen TV on every wall, brainwashing everyone who comes into there.
But its all designed like a Starbucks or new McDonalds, you can be sure Ching Hai would love to open up thousands of those on every block, to "save the world" of course.
And become a billionaire.
Anyone who got out of the Loving Hut money-pit before they got into it, should count their lucky stars and good common sense.
Re: Ching Hai, meditation brainwashing
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 05, 2011 10:56AM
When these sects get people to meditate, and chant for hours certain phrases EVERYDAY, that is very powerful mental conditioning. (brainwashing, if you will)
Because no matter the phrase, the people are thinking about Ching Hai, or have her pictures they are looking at or imagining.
One lady said Ching Hai "visits" her in meditation.
That is the Sai Baba trick, you tell people you will visit them in dreams, and guess what, it happens. Nothing special, we all dream about the things we are involved with.
And when a person sits there for hours chanting, and visualizing the Guru, eventually its going to seem real to them. Its like installing a delusion.
Its installing the Guru in their minds.
But if people are told to do this hours a day for years, they will become obsessed and locked into the sects Guru, often for life.
Byron Katie does very similar things.
If a person wants to get Ching Hai out of their mind, some ideas are here.
IDEAS on how to KICK-OUT byron katie from your Mind-Soul-Life [forum.culteducation.com]
Because no matter the phrase, the people are thinking about Ching Hai, or have her pictures they are looking at or imagining.
One lady said Ching Hai "visits" her in meditation.
That is the Sai Baba trick, you tell people you will visit them in dreams, and guess what, it happens. Nothing special, we all dream about the things we are involved with.
And when a person sits there for hours chanting, and visualizing the Guru, eventually its going to seem real to them. Its like installing a delusion.
Its installing the Guru in their minds.
But if people are told to do this hours a day for years, they will become obsessed and locked into the sects Guru, often for life.
Byron Katie does very similar things.
If a person wants to get Ching Hai out of their mind, some ideas are here.
IDEAS on how to KICK-OUT byron katie from your Mind-Soul-Life [forum.culteducation.com]
Re: Ching Hai, meditation brainwashing, Sai Baba
Posted by:
The Anticult
()
Date: April 06, 2011 12:10AM
Sai Baba is/was close to death.
But some of the comments on some sites from his followers, makes one think of Ching Hai. Its important to remember, that yes, many followers do literally believe these showbiz entertainers and frauds, really are "Gods".
[www.indianexpress.com]
Such a strange situation.
Here you have Sai Baba, to many eyes an obvious fraud.
And Sai Baba has done the standard "I Am God" showbiz act, telling people one day he will reach Samadhi, and float away into the ether, or whatever.
So here he is, an aging man, who's health is failing.
And his followers, who clearly do really believe he is "God" are confused and "praying" for him.
Someone points out, does "God" need prayers for health?
Its completely absurd.
But it shows just how bizarre these belief systems can seem to those on the outside of it. To those on the outside, you have a man, who's made a fortune doing a fake-Swami act for decades, who is nearing the end of his life.
And if Sai Baba survives, due to medical science, then be sure this will be used as his latest "miracle". When in fact, without medical science, he would now be dead.
Notice that Sai Baba doesn't use his fake miracle powers, and gets admitted to the best hospital money can buy.
And if Sai Baba dies, then they will concoct some story that he floated away into the ether.
Strange stuff.
But some of the comments on some sites from his followers, makes one think of Ching Hai. Its important to remember, that yes, many followers do literally believe these showbiz entertainers and frauds, really are "Gods".
[www.indianexpress.com]
Such a strange situation.
Here you have Sai Baba, to many eyes an obvious fraud.
And Sai Baba has done the standard "I Am God" showbiz act, telling people one day he will reach Samadhi, and float away into the ether, or whatever.
So here he is, an aging man, who's health is failing.
And his followers, who clearly do really believe he is "God" are confused and "praying" for him.
Someone points out, does "God" need prayers for health?
Its completely absurd.
But it shows just how bizarre these belief systems can seem to those on the outside of it. To those on the outside, you have a man, who's made a fortune doing a fake-Swami act for decades, who is nearing the end of his life.
And if Sai Baba survives, due to medical science, then be sure this will be used as his latest "miracle". When in fact, without medical science, he would now be dead.
Notice that Sai Baba doesn't use his fake miracle powers, and gets admitted to the best hospital money can buy.
And if Sai Baba dies, then they will concoct some story that he floated away into the ether.
Strange stuff.
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