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The Story of Chang Tao-ling:A Taoist Immortal - Part I P3/3
September 2, 2008
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This program discusses
the possibility of
breatharianism, or living
without eating food, and
is not a full instruction.
For your safety,
please do not attempt to
cease eating without
proper expert guidance.
For your safety,
please do not attempt to
cease eating without
proper expert guidance.
Today’s Between
Master and Disciples –
“Maria Furtner:
The Water Drinker
from Frasdorf” –
will be presented
in German
with subtitles in Arabic,
Aulacese (Vietnamese),
Bulgarian, Chinese,
Czech-Slovak, English,
French, German,
Hindi, Hungarian,
Indonesian, Italian,
Japanese, Korean,
Malay, Mongolian,
Persian, Polish,
Portuguese, Punjabi,
Russian, Spanish
and Thai.
In scriptures,
the human body
is often referred to
as the temple of God.
Yet, it is quite
an uncommon privilege
for any soul to
attain this sacred abode
that houses the Divine,
as it is truly a blessing
to be reborn
as a human being.
On several occasions,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has spoken about the rarity
of this phenomenon:
To be reincarnated in
the human world is hard.
You have to have
enough Human Quality.
You have to have
affinity with the parents
and with the society,
with the people around
which you are born.
Very difficult.
To be a human,
you need some merit.
You have done
something good
in the past
in order to be able
to pick a human birth.
As a living temple of God,
the human body
is fully equipped
with miraculous wonders
that can be awakened
in those who
are spiritually conscious
and have complete faith
in the Creator of all life.
Inedia,
Latin for “fasting,”
is the human ability
to live without food.
Since time immemorial,
there have always been
individuals who
can sustain themselves
on prana,
or the vital life force.
Through the grace of
the Providence, inediates,
people who follow
a food-free lifestyle,
can draw the energy
from nature
to nourish themselves:
They live on the chi
from the ground,
or from the forest,
and from the sun
and from the air.
They make use
of all that.
Or they live on love,
on faith alone.
These individuals are
known as breatharians(pranarians or inediates),
solarians, or waterians,
and they come from
all walks of life, from
different cultures, and
all corners of the world.
Indeed, the possibilities
and miracles in this life
as our benevolent Creator
has designed for us
are endless;
we only need to connect
within to recognize
our abounding largess
as God’s children.
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has lovingly
recommended
a weekly series on
Supreme Master Television
to introduce
those individuals
of the past and present
who have chosen to
live food-free on Earth.
May their spiritual stories
enthrall you;
may hearts be opened,
and horizons be expanded.
We now invite you
to join us for the second
and final part
of our two-part program
“Maria Furtner:
The Water Drinker
from Frasdorf”
on Between Master
and Disciples.
For 52 years,
Maria Furtner of Bavaria
lived food-free,
her only apparent source
of sustenance was water.
After recovering
from a series of illnesses,
Maria lost her appetite
for food at the age of 11.
When she tried
to eat afterward,
she could not
hold the food down.
Elisabeth Soyer, wife
of the baker of Frasdorf,
recounted one incident
when Maria was compelled
to eat food
to please others:
“The maid’s [Maria]
godmother told my mother
that she had told Maria:
‘I will only
be your godmother
if you will eat properly
on the day
of your confirmation.’
So, Maria had to eat but
then it had terrible pain.
She vomited
until all the food
had come out again.
After that, she was
in such a bad condition
that we thought
she was going to die.
The godmother always
said that all her life
she repented to
have forced Maria to eat.”
Astounded by her ability
to live on water alone,
Dr. Joseph Zetl
in Rosenheim
asked for Maria’s and
her parents’ permission
to place her under
a 5-week observation
in Munich.
With their consent,
the 23-year-old
“water drinker
from Frasdorf” was placed
under the supervision
of respected physicians
such as Johann Nepomuk
Ringseis and
Franz Xaver von Gietl.
During her entire stay
at the General Municipal
Hospital, Maria was kept
in an isolated room,
cared for by the nuns
of Merciful Sisters.
At the end of the
five weeks of observation,
the attending physicians
validated the claim that
Maria did not need food
to live.
They observed that Maria
had not taken any food
except water
and that she had had
no bowel movement
during the entire time
that she was
under observation.
Though she was
1 kilogram lighter
after the five weeks of
being under observation,
Maria was in good health,
which was further
demonstrated by her
77-kilometer trek home,
which took her 2-3 days
to accomplish on foot.
Maria’s food-free lifestyle
became more
publicly known.
Privy Councilor Dr. von
Walther, who was also
the private physician
of the king of Bavaria,
published the study’s
findings in the bulletin
of the Bavarian Academy
of Science.
Professor Dr. Karl Emil
von Schafhäutl,
another member
of the Bavarian Academy
of Sciences,
also published an article
in 1885 about Maria:
“The girl lived
for several years
in this fashion, and half
of the local community
didn’t know
that she didn’t eat.”
For those
who knew Maria,
her integrity
was never questioned,
an example of which
can be seen in
the following statement
by Dean Joseph Lochner,
priest in Frasdorf:
“The fact
that Maria Furtner lived
for most of her life
solely on water and
consumed no solid foods
is very certain to me.”
When Between Master
and Disciples returns
in just a moment,
we’ll hear more
from the people
who knew Maria,
as well as reports about
some wondrous happenings
which occurred
after her passing.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Between Master
and Disciples
for our program
on Maria Furtner,
a 19th century
German waterian
who lived for 52 years
without taking any food.
Maria was described
being a person
with deep religious piety.
She never married
and spent her day
between attending church
and immersing herself
in quiet contemplation
at home.
Aside from
being an avid reader,
Maria also enjoyed
knitting and embroidery.
Currently, there still exist
a few handiworks
that Maria made,
such as a tablecloth
fashioned out of linen.
Maria was described
as being a cheerful person
and enjoyed talking to
the villagers of Frasdorf.
She was also acquainted
with Duchess Adelgunde
of Modena, who was
the same age as her.
During summertime,
the Duchess resided
in the nearby
Wildenwart castle.
Because of Maria,
the humble village
of Frasdorf was graced
by the presence of
the Duchess of Adelgunde,
King Ludwig I, as well as
by King Ludwig’s sons
King Maximilian II and
Prince Regent Luitpold
during their visits
to the water drinker
of Frasdorf.
Even though
she was food-free,
Maria still liked
to cook for others.
Her nephew,
Andreas Furtner,
recalled the memories
he had of his waterian aunt:
“She often cooked...
she simply watched
how much salt, etc.,
that other people used
and then she used
exactly the same amount.
In this manner,
she cooked quite well.
She never tasted anything.
Then,
when people came to eat,
she went to her room
and sat for an hour
in contemplation.”
In 1933, 50 years after
Maria Furtner’s passing,
young Vicar Anton Huber
came to Frasdorf
to interview those
who knew Maria.
He also had the opportunity
to interview Andreas
and Elisabeth Furtner,
her nephew and niece
who were 12 and 11
years old, respectively,
when Maria passed away.
Andreas Furtner
remembered his aunt:
“She never ate anything
but she drank water
every day.
She went herself
to fetch the water, usually
from three springs –
sometimes from one spring,
and sometimes
from another one….
She used to drink water
three times a day.
She didn’t drink
exceptionally much,
just about
as much as other people.
In summer when it was hot,
she drank a little more,
and in winter less.”
Elisabeth Soyer,
the baker’s wife,
fondly remembered
Maria’s talent
in connection to water:
“She liked
to walk to Kirchwald
for pilgrimage.
On the way,
she took water
from the springs in
Grainbach and Kirchwald,
but she didn’t like
the water so much….
the girl knew
where the best water
can be found.”
Maria Furtner passed away
on November 4, 1884,
at the age of 63.
During her life,
she didn’t eat
for a period of 52 years.
Throughout the years,
she was only
seriously sick three times.
As a child, she fell ill
with the smallpox,
and as consequence
she gave up food;
as a 20-year-old she had
an Eryspelas infection
due to the cold climate
on her way to Munich;
and the third time
she fell ill
was the sickness which
led to her final passing.
In 1901, 14 years
after Maria’s death,
her body was exhumed
when Johann Furtner died
and was buried
in the family tomb.
Mr. Johann Wollschlager
and Mr. Kaspar Aichler
who were the Furtners’
closest neighbours
and thus had the task
of shovelling the grave,
reported that they saw
something extraordinary
when they exhumed
Maria Furtner’s remains:
“The flesh
had decomposed.
It was just like other tombs.
But suddenly
we saw something which
we had never seen before
at any other tomb.
On the skull, the hair was
completely intact...
And on top of the hair
laid the virgin coronal
which had been
put into the tomb.
It was also
completely intact.
We took the shovel
and carefully
took out the coronal.
The wire was braided
with wax-soaked
green paper-leafs,
and on its front,
there were white blossoms
and buttons.
The coronal was as fresh
as if it had been bought
on the previous day.
If the coronal had been
put an hour before
in the tomb –
it couldn’t have been
prettier and fresher.”
Other people
who were present also
saw the intact coronal
and said they had
never seen anything
like that before.
On Maria Furtner’s
tombstone, it was written
that she had not taken
any food but water
during 52 years of her life.
In 1985, 100 years
after Maria’s death,
the Bavarian musician
and folk song collector
Wastl Fanderl,
a native of Frasdorf,
continued the work which
Vicar Anton Huber had
started 50 years earlier.
He gathered all the reports
which were available
about Maria’s life
and published them
in a book titled
“The Water Drinker
of Frasdorf.”
Thanks to the work
of these two men,
the memory
of Maria Furtner’s
extraordinary life
is preserved for posterity.
Thank you,
good-hearted viewers,
for joining us today
for this episode of
Between Master
and Disciples.
Please stay tuned for
Good People, Good Works,
coming up right after
Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May each day of your life
bring you an abundance
of wisdom, harmony,
and contentment.
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