Wang Fengyi (1864–1937) is celebrated in China as a peasant saint and the founder of a system of healing that has been translated into English in phrases like “virtue healing” or “five-element healing through the emotions” (xing li liao bing 性理療病, literally “treating disease through inner nature principles”). Completely surrendering his personal agenda for the transmission of knowledge that was sincere, urgent, and large in the way the universe is large. ‘Tian ren he yi’ — Heaven and human beings become one.

Dr. Heiner Fruehauf is sitting with a group of villagers in the Heilongjiang provence with Mr. Liu, a disciple of Wang Fengyi’s disciple. Mr. Liu is speaking with the villagers about, “the art of treating serious disease through the five emotions ‘wang li tao bing’. Human beings are supposed to be healthy! The reason we’re getting sick is primarily because of poisonous emotions like hate (Fire), blame (Earth), anger (Wood), judgement (Metal), and arrogance (Water). We need to expel these toxic emotions by telling stories to each other. When you want to heal the body, you need to treat it at the source and clear up the emotional relation with the person that you first got angry with. When you get angry, then the fire come up in you. Having this rage, this fire, that is what causes disease”

Mr. Liu and his wife are taking care of sick people that live and eat with them for free. After Mr. Liu’s talk, Heiner and the villagers are laughing, crying, and hugging each other. A mother and daughter in law are confessing that they’ve been holding on to resentment about each other for years.

Bu yuan ren — ‘do not blame others’