Famous Chinese Taoist monk is exposed as a fraud

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. II Timothy 4:4

Concerning the claims of "Supreme Master" Li Yi: as they used to say in Get Smart whenever Maxwell Smart made an outlandish claim, "I find that very hard to believe." Even The Most Interesting Man in the World would have a tough time living up to the claims of the "Supreme Master." As reported by Malcolm Moore in the Daily Telegraph of September 3, 2010:

Chinese government officials said that "Supreme Master" Li Yi, a 41-year-old Taoist monk, had faked a long list of improbable super powers.

Mr Li had claimed that he could sit cross-legged under water for over two hours because of his unique Taoist abilities and that he could withstand 220 volts of electricity circulating through his body.

However, officials at the state religious authority in the central Chinese city of Chongqing suggested that the monk was in fact sitting inside a sealed glass box underwater, with enough air inside to last him for the duration of the performance.

The monk also said he had been a visiting professor at Cambridge University, a status which the university denies. His claims of being a speaker at China's most prestigious college, Peking University, were also refuted.

Mr Li used his fame to sell expensive health and philosophy programmes to his 30,000 followers at the Shaolong Taoist Temple near Chongqing which cost up to 9,000 yuan (Pounds900) a week.

Ma Yun, the founder of the Alibaba commerce website, Fan Xinman, the wife of the head of CCTV, China's state television, and the actress Faye Wong all tried Mr Li's courses. However, Mr Ma and Ms Wong have since denied being "disciples" of the monk.

As in the case of the "past-life regressionists" in the post below, the reader will notice the outrageous fees charged by these New Age practitioners, and the disproportionate ability of women to fall for such nonsense.