In recent years, a kind of "spiritual cultivation" organization that is covert in nature, short-lived, and highly profitable has spread across the country. This type of organization often wears a legal cloak, in the name of "self-improvement" and "spiritual cultivation", through

In recent years, a kind of "spiritual cultivation" organization that is covert in nature, short-lived, and highly profitable has spread across the country. This type of organization often wears a legal cloak, in the name of "self-improvement" and "spiritual cultivation", through some carefully set courses, using psychological suggestion and other techniques to achieve mental control over students, and ultimately makes the students take the initiative or Passively help these training elements to "get people" and help the organizers make money.

In early 2022, public security agencies in many places received reports from the masses and discovered that an organization deified key members, used the banners of "spiritual practice" and "soul shaping" to exercise mental control on students and charge high training fees. After full investigation by the Xiamen Municipal Public Security Bureau of Fujian Province, an illegal organization that has moved to multiple provinces and relocated its headquarters to multiple places, headed by Deng Haipeng, who uses "spiritual cultivation" to engage in illegal and criminal activities has gradually emerged.

▲Arrest Deng Haipeng

Deng Haipeng and the training institution he founded, under the guise of "soul shaping" and "collective field", mentally control the students, and then use modern marketing models such as pyramid schemes, franchises, and advanced marketing to make money. Purpose.

In June 2022, the Xiamen City Police established a task force. After more than four months of investigation and control, all 46 arrest targets were arrested on the evening of October 25, 2022.

As of the incident, the training institution has involved more than 3,600 victims in more than 30 prefectures and cities in more than 20 provinces across the country, including many minors, and the amount of fraud was as high as more than 11 million yuan.

Make up theories and fictional gods

"The reason why people encounter problems such as disease, hardship, money, family, etc. is because the soul has not been awakened. The soul can be awakened in the collective field of God. As long as the soul is awakened, everything can be healed. Illness, hardship, money, family and other issues." - Words made up by Deng Haipeng's "Soul Training".

"You can't skip me and have a good connection with God." - Deng Haipeng's words made up to create himself as the only channel to link to God.

▲Deng Haipeng

Deng Haipeng, born in 1971, was previously a reporter for a domestic newspaper. After 2000, he participated in several overseas "local church" training camps and engaged in missionary work. Starting in 2013, Deng Haipeng began to have doubts about his original beliefs. Due to life and financial pressure, he relied on his certain research in theology and began to engage in spiritual healing promotion and agency as his main source of income.

Since 2015, Deng Haipeng has acted as an agent for an overseas spiritual healing course. He is mainly responsible for the domestic promotion, enrollment, logistics support, translation and other work of the course.

In 2016, Deng Haipeng was not satisfied with working for others. Through searching on the Internet, he found another overseas theoretical training course and established "Xin Yang Sheng Life Culture Consulting (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd." to sign contracts with external parties and collect training fees. wait.

In 2021, Deng Haipeng moved the training headquarters from Shenzhen, Guangdong to Xiamen, Fujian, and carried out a series of operations: First, eight major ecological areas were established nationwide, and 9 affiliated companies were established under the name of "Heart Ascension" , corresponding to the Xiamen headquarters. The second is to formulate standard operating procedures for training in "co-study salons" and "soul shaping" workshops in various places, as well as "talking skills" texts for recruiting students. The third is to establish a new student recommendation agency system. Every time a new student is successfully recommended, 30% of the tuition fee will be used, half of which will go to the recommended volunteers and half to the ecological area (later changed to 35%, of which 20% will be given to the area, volunteers 15%).

According to Deng Haipeng's explanation, his "soul shaping" theory was "created" by combining theology, meditation, Buddhism, psychology and other knowledge, while adding some of his own conjectures.

▲Illegal propaganda materials confiscated by the police

Deng Haipeng emphasized in the training that the "Xiamen Headquarters" is the center of the universe and the strongest place of the "collective field". He is the channel chosen by God. Those who do not surrender to God or withdraw from the field Students will be "operated" by God (that is, bad things will happen, similar to being punished by God) in order to establish their absolute authority.

The fundamental answer to all these operations and theories is to vigorously develop new students and then develop the students into volunteers. The seven key members of Xin Yangsheng were all "trained" step by step from students to volunteers to core backbone members by Deng Haipeng. .

Many key members and volunteers of the training institution said that Deng Haipeng asked them to specialize in developing people with mental illness or who are experiencing difficulties in life, and to publish organizational promotional videos and promotional articles through social platforms to carry out publicity. If anyone is interested in these promotional contents, they can contact customer service by leaving a message. Customer service will then understand the customer's actual needs, conduct a preliminary classification, and guide them to the nearest training point. After the clients arrive, the volunteers will use targeted solicitation texts and ask veteran trainees to "share" their training experiences with them to guide the clients to spend money to participate in "soul training." During this period, the training point will confiscate the customer's mobile phone and cut off their contact with the outside world. Xu Min, a core member of

who was captured at the same time, recalled: "After Deng Haipeng started the 'soul shaping' plan, he preached to the volunteers that we were not doing enrollment work, but just doing the work of connecting and serving life. We were building an ecology and living environment." Ecology. But looking back now, my actual work is to recruit students, and then develop new students to become new volunteers. This cycle goes on and on, which is almost the same as the development of MLM and franchising. The role of developing volunteers is huge. Deng Haipeng requires volunteers to be pure, selfless and dedicated, to serve Deng Haipeng, his training center and the eight major districts for free, as a free labor force, and then to develop more people to join the 'collective field' to earn more tuition fees."

Chen Tianjia, an expert on cult issues at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the word "spiritual cultivation" was originally a religious term, that is, spiritual cultivation, such as Christian spirituality. He pointed out that Deng Haipeng’s training institution in this case is a typical spiritual mind control illegal organization. There are many such organizations, and they continue to develop, mutate and spread around the world. It is packaged in the name of spiritual practice, awakening, healing, leadership improvement, potential development, coaching technology, team building, business consulting, success learning, spiritual growth, health and wellness, and intimacy improvement, targeting high-income groups and teenagers, all Society should be more vigilant about this.

Centralized office mental control

"Only in the collective field can an individual's life discover his position, value and integrity." - Deng Haipeng in order to trick students into participating in closed training so as to better control their minds. Made up words.

"You can't form a clique. If you have the ability to form a clique with me, God will work on you." - Deng Haipeng's words made up to block communication among students and prevent his lies from being exposed.

▲ Training site

Deng Haipeng used the excuse of "centralized office" to implement closed management of the students, and took the opportunity to brainwash the students. They were not allowed to go out casually, and were not allowed to contact the outside world. Anyone who raised different opinions or did not abide by the rules he set , each student was asked to speak to criticize this person.

Deng Haipeng also allowed students and volunteers to have a "real-life competition" during the training. The purpose of "real combat" is to have students recite what he has said, thereby strengthening the students' daily learning and ensuring that students always remember his "soul shaping" theory, which is one of his methods of mental control.

Deng Haipeng also issued an internal publication "The Screamer", which contains excerpts of his lectures. "The Screamer" can only be seen by students at the volunteer level or above. After

becomes a volunteer, he must follow the regulations and perform "six exercises" every week, including daily meditation sharing, daily new summaries, weekly new summaries, participating in salon gatherings of local students, and helping others with individual healing. wait.

Is Deng Haipeng’s spiritual healing really effective? Xu Min said that A Fang, a trainee from Shenzhen, originally came to the training because of depression. Shortly after the training, A Fang not only failed to get "healed", but her condition worsened and led to mental disorder.

▲Students knelt down and cried bitterly at the training site

Many of the volunteers are highly educated. For example, key member Li Wei has a master's degree in science and engineering. He originally did not believe Deng Haipeng's rhetoric, but he was slowly brainwashed.

Li Wei was originally an atheist, but Deng Haipeng's rhetoric about the origin of the universe attracted him. In particular, Deng Haipeng was very good at connecting the things that happened in their lives to God. For example, when booking a conference venue, the hotel was supposed to be closed for seven days due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Everyone thought it would be postponed, but Deng Haipeng said, "Continue to prepare the conference venue, and God will make it work." As a result, the hotel actually informed that the conference could be held as scheduled, which made everyone feel that this was It is the result of God's operation. Later, Li Wei gradually developed a thinking pattern in his mind: "To listen to Deng Haipeng's words is to listen to God's words." Now Li Wei remembered that at that time, the national epidemic prevention and control measures had been downgraded, and it happened that Deng Haipeng's words were right.

Chen Tianjia said that the methods of "spiritual practice" are diverse, such as massage, herbal medicine, dance, and shouting, and cannot be generalized. However, judging from the situation in the West, many "spiritual" organizations have evolved into criminal organizations, using group effects to psychologically abuse members and making money through mind control.

Chen Tianjia emphasized that this type of so-called training is a cultural hodgepodge, including foreign physical and spiritual movements, local metaphysics, fake religious concepts, and foreign alien cult content. It mainly advocates "eschatology", allowing believers to "awaken" and "ascend", find a new "savior", and obtain salvation by entering the so-called "high dimension" to reach the "higher self". The development method introduces modern methods such as pyramid schemes, franchises, and advancement. Marketing model. In fact, it is a modern superstition that advocates new theism, controls people's minds and causes physical and mental harm, defrauds money and sex to engage in politics, and endangers national political security, cultural security, and social security.

One person got rich, but thousands were deceived.

"Money is not earned, it is cultivated, and it is lived." - Deng Haipeng's words to coax students to quit their jobs to pay tuition.

"Your real estate cannot give you a real and lasting sense of security, but may make your life stagnant." - Deng Haipeng's words to trick students into giving up their property and donating it to themselves.

▲Deng Haipeng engages in training to make money in the name of "soul shaping"

Deng Haipeng's "soul shaping" training activities are all held in the hotel and are divided into three series, each series lasts for 3 days; each series charges 6,800 yuan per person, one The fee for the second series of continuous training is 13,000 yuan per person, and the fee for one series of recurrent training is 2,500 yuan per person. In addition, there are "annual meetings" and study tours, each of which costs 1,000 yuan per person. Volunteers and students need to pay fees and provide their own food and accommodation. During the

training process, volunteers on site are generally divided into different functional groups, including tea break group, doorkeeper group, bag group, layout group, publicity group, etiquette group, etc. Among them, the bag team is responsible for collecting and keeping the mobile phones of the trainees; the door team is responsible for guarding the door of the training site and prohibiting non-students from entering... The training activity starts at 10 a.m. that day, usually for more than 10 hours, and sometimes continues until the next day. Around early morning.

Such high-intensity training is for brainwashing, and such high-intensity brainwashing is for making money.

student Zhao Lu recalled that Deng Haipeng would deliberately guide volunteers to donate property on many occasions.

At a training in Guangzhou, Deng Haipeng said to volunteer Liu Ying: "Don't leave so much property to your son. This will only hinder his growth. All personal property is given by God. If it is not used by God, it will Be operated." Liu Ying listened to Deng Haipeng's words and said on the spot that she would donate the storefront houses and office buildings she held. Luo Jun, a key member of

, recalled: "Although I had doubts at the beginning, I still dreamed of earning millions a year like Deng Haipeng described. I was once bewitched and tricked Zhao Nan, a volunteer in Jinan, into selling his house."

At that time, Zhao Nan and her mother were deceived into coming to training. They even quit their jobs for the training. Because of repeated training, all their family savings were spent. They borrowed travel expenses and training fees, and they didn't know what to pay back the overdrawn credit cards. I also quit my job for training. Luo Jun suggested that Zhao Nan sell the house: "Follow God, follow the collective field, God will not let you starve to death."

Luo Jun said: "Thinking about it now, I feel that I was committing a crime at that time."

Deng Haipeng has formulated various rules. If he does not follow his rules or does something wrong, he will require volunteers and students to accept punishment. The punishment is to pay red envelopes and fines in the WeChat group.

In order to establish his own Prestige, Deng Haipeng even cares a lot about what volunteers call him. In July 2022, because Deng Haipeng did not add the word "teacher" after an article in "The Screamer", each of the four volunteers responsible for editing was He was fined 5,000 yuan.

In addition, students have to deal with Deng Haipeng's spot checks at any time. If they cannot recite Deng Haipeng's quotations, or even recite a word wrong, they will be punished.

Student Han Xi said: "Many students have been completely enslaved by Deng Haipeng. Many people have to borrow money to pay fines. I have paid more than 30,000 yuan in fines and cannot make ends meet, making life difficult. "

packaging character, ruining family

" I approved it three times with God. It was God who arranged you to be by my side. We will nourish the field together. "——The words Deng Haipeng made up when he deceived female students.

"If you are not with me, God will work. "——The words Deng Haipeng made up when threatening female students.

▲ Deng Haipeng lured female students into the hotel

After Xu Min was arrested, he suddenly woke up and realized that Deng Haipeng has always been a two-faced person, doing one thing in front of others and another behind.

Deng Haipeng is in During the training process, he continued to build his character and created a "noble" image for himself of being diligent, frugal, not close to women, and only pursuing the true meaning of life. He has been single and childless.

However, in fact, Deng Haipeng and his people On the contrary, he is greedy for money, lustful, promiscuous and extravagant.

In front of people, he requires all students to be vegetarians. He eats fish and meat every day, including sea cucumbers. In front of people, he requires students not to own real estate, and the money comes from spiritual practice, but he takes the money he cheated. He used the money to buy financial products; in front of others he has no children, but in fact he has a wife and a daughter; in front of others he pretends not to be a womanizer, but in fact he preys on female students in the name of falling in love.

According to Deng Haipeng's own confession, he had three previous marriages. They all ended in divorce and had a daughter. After the divorce, he tricked many female students and had sexual relations with them.

According to the female student’s confession, she originally had a family, but Deng Haipeng instilled in her every day, "I approved it three times with God. It was God who arranged you to be by my side. When we are together, we will nourish the field." "If you are not with me, God will work." Later, Yunyun became pregnant with Deng Haipeng's child. , had to have a miscarriage, feeling guilty about her husband and the family, and with Deng Haipeng constantly encouraging her, so she divorced her husband.

Deng Haipeng confessed to this, saying that she had sequelae of polio and her legs were lame. If she doesn't fall in love with him, he can only continue to brainwash and intimidate her to achieve his goals.

Xiao Kai, who is also a student, is Yunyun's best friend. When she learned that Deng Haipeng had a relationship with Yunyun, she began to treat Deng Haipeng's people She had doubts about Deng Haipeng's character. Xiao Kai said that she had always felt that Deng Haipeng was a pure person and would not fall in love, let alone with volunteers.

After Xiao Kai doubted Deng Haipeng, she recalled various things and found that Deng Haipeng was interested in many women. The students all said the same thing to brainwash them, and many students got divorced because of Deng Haipeng's deception. Li Tingting, a key member of

, started working as a volunteer at the training institution when Deng Haipeng was working as a translator. After June 2021, she was replaced by Deng Haipeng She was selected to participate in the centralized closed office and was not allowed to go home. She asked Deng Haipeng for leave on the grounds of taking care of her children, but Deng Haipeng refused to approve it because "if your child has problems, it is because the parents take too much care and accompany them too much."

Because of the long-term Unable to go home to take care of her family and children, Li Tingting and her husband divorced in July 2022. Li Tingting's 10-year-old son's academic performance is getting worse and worse, and he has been called to talk to the school teacher many times.

volunteer Chen Hua is from Chongqing. The eldest daughter is in high school and the younger daughter is in junior high school, both are minors. In February 2022, she began to participate in centralized office work, and her husband also left Chongqing due to work adjustments. The couple was completely unable to take care of their children.Chen Hua cried day and night and wanted to take leave to return to Chongqing. Deng Haipeng firmly disagreed and threatened Chen Hua not to go back by saying, "The soul of a child must be led by God. If we worry about God's things, God will worry about ours."

volunteer Zhao Siyuan also believed in Deng Haipeng's "soul shaping" theory. In 2021, she had to come to the centralized office right after giving birth to her child, leaving her child under one year old with her husband. For this reason, her husband also divorced her. .

Li Wei was originally a middle-level cadre of a state-owned enterprise. He resigned from his job after listening to Deng Haipeng's "soul shaping" theory. With no source of income, I had to raise children, support the elderly, and pay training tuition. After listening to Deng Haipeng's fallacy that "real estate will bring life to an immobile stagnation," I sold a house in a school district in Shanghai and came to Pay for training.

Xu Min said: "There are still many students who sold their properties and borrowed money to survive and were deceived into training."

The myth was shattered after being caught in the case

In March 2022, Xiamen police received a report about the fraud of Deng Haipeng and his training institution. , immediately set up a special investigation. After several months of control and investigation, in October 2022, the police destroyed the criminal gang headed by Deng Haipeng in one fell swoop.

▲ In October 2022, the Xiamen police destroyed the criminal gang headed by Deng Haipeng in one fell swoop. The picture shows the command scene

After investigation, Deng Haipeng’s gang set up eight large areas across the country, established 10 "Xin Yangsheng" companies, and established a five-level organizational structure: top level As "God's channel" Deng Haipeng, the second level is for the 25 "central volunteers" who directly participate in the corporatized operation, the third level is for the 25 "area volunteers" from the eight large areas, and the fourth level is for the 259 "peripheral volunteers" from the eight large areas. Volunteers", the fifth level includes more than 3,600 students across the country. This is almost consistent with the marketing methods of MLM gangs. They develop downlines, set up regional supervisors, and develop the number of people as the way to advance.

The police found that Deng Haipeng's gang and related company accounts had 370 accounts. Deng Haipeng used the money obtained through fraud to invest in high-risk projects of a company in Shenzhen. The police immediately froze all funds involved in the case and recovered more than 8 million yuan of Deng Haipeng's personal illegal income, laying the foundation for subsequent efforts to return the stolen goods.

After the incident involving Deng Haipeng's criminal gang, the police immediately conducted a surprise interrogation of Deng Haipeng. By recording a video, Deng Haipeng personally told the facts, defrauding female students and seducing female students and other criminal and illegal facts. The video was shown to the murdered volunteers and students, exposing the Using Deng Haipeng's false persona, the deceived students were completely awakened.

Professor Lai Danfeng, director of the Psychological Counseling and Education Center of Xiamen University, said when talking about the case that Deng Haipeng’s mental control over the students was divided into three steps: First, through long lectures and so-called centralized office work, the students were separated from normal life. ; The second is to strengthen the students' sense of belonging and identity through ritualized content such as the same clothes, the same slogans, and the same theories; the third is to weaken the students' self-esteem by belittling and humiliating the students, and at the same time giving some sweeteners to win over them. Students use it. In the midst of "kneading and pressing everything", Deng Haipeng completed the mental control of the students. Professor Lai reminded that everyone may be a victim of such illegal organizations that use spiritual practice to engage in illegal and criminal activities, and they need to be more vigilant about this.

A just trial will not be absent. In October 2023, Deng Haipeng was convicted of using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law, fraud, and rape. He was sentenced to seventeen years and six months in prison at first instance and fined RMB 810. Ten thousand yuan. The remaining seven accomplices also received due justice.

▲First-instance verdict

Wu Yafeng, the person in charge of the case and prosecutor of the Siming District Procuratorate of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, told reporters: "This case is a relatively large-scale criminal case involving harmful mental control training in Xiamen in recent years, involving many people. .After joint research and judgment by the public security organs, procuratorial organs, and courts, the policy of persisting in cracking down on the very few and educating the majority was established, and finally one principal and seven accomplices were held criminally responsible, achieving the dual effects of criminal prosecution and education and rescue. of unity."

Source | China Anti-Cult