11 Facts About Mantak Chia

Mantak Chia wrote more than 60 books on Taoist practices and taught the principles of Taoist internal arts.

Mantak Chia's books have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Mantak Chia has been named twice as "Qigong Master of the Year" by the International Congress of Chinese Medicine and Qigong in 1990 and 2012 and is listed as number 18 of the "100 most Spiritually Influential people" in The Watkins Review 2012.

Mantak Chia was born to a Chinese family in Thailand in 1944.

Mantak Chia was raised in a Christian household, with his grandfather a Baptist minister and his mother a missionary.

Mantak Chia began studying the Buddhist method of "stilling the mind" at the age of six, and later studied Muay Thai, tai chi, kung fu and Taoist and Buddhist meditation practices from several masters.

Mantak Chia established his first Universal Healing Tao school in Thailand in 1974 after systematizing his knowledge of Taoism.

Mantak Chia founded the Universal Healing Tao Center in New York in 1979.

Mantak Chia returned to Thailand in 1994 and created the Universal Tao Training Center in Chiang Mai.

Mantak Chia's lineage is that of the Dragon's Gate sect of the Quanzhen school of Taoism.

The system Mantak Chia presents is a narrowly focused system of qigong rooted firmly in neidan.