korean spiritual leader's new zealand dream slowly taking shape in the bay of islands bush near kerikeri - all in one solar street light

Two years ago, when a mysterious South Korean spiritual leader appeared in town, spent millions of pounds on the property, and planned a global headquarters for an organization designed to recruit 100 million followers, Kerry
Far North reporter peter de graaf visited Lee's future global village and learned about his New Zealand dream so far. In the bush-
In the mountains west of Creek, a ghostly figure awaits.
He was dressed in white, his hair neat, and almost glowing in the wet green shadows of the forest.
One hand with a walking staff member and the other is welcome.
It's not a ghost, it's life. size cut-
Li Aiqi, a Korean spiritual leader and businessman, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, making a fortune from his own yoga, book brand, brain and body education techniques.
But what is he doing?
Actually, he has a few.
In the Jungle Bay of the islands?
Read more: spiritual leaders invest millions of dollars to turn Creek into a global base for 2016 Li Chengxian
His shopping spree includes four.
End House of Kerikeri, Pine Grove and shrubs 156ha on Pungaere Rd on the edge of Puketi forest, this is near Pahia Lodge and camp next to Whangaroa Harbour and Haruru Falls Panoramic Resort. The 68-year-
The old man has nothing to hide from his plan.
He even put-
Page advertisement of Beiguo newspaper
But his interest in Kerry Kai is puzzling.
The locals were shocked by his plan to set up a global center for his Earth citizen organization (ECO)
And recruited 100 million members, while in a YouTube video, Lee complained that bureaucracy had hindered the development of his global village, and that some environmental regulators in the town were worried that he would ride a rough car.
Planning rules in the far north.
It is not clear how Korean citizens can buy so much land without the permission of the Overseas Investment Office (
He was later found to have been granted residency, so there was no need for the office statementso)
Any Google search will show that the Dahn Yoga movement, founded by Lee but no longer owned, has caused litigation and controversy in the United States.
Some of his followers were aggressive in their attempts to recruit and did not win the cautious krishri residents.
More than two years later, Li's plan to establish a global village and eco-training headquarters on panggelei Road is underway, but progress is slow.
Even millions of spiritual leaders cannot match the council's planning regulations.
Li can hardly speak English, but Yang Hanwang, his spokeswoman, proposed to take me to the site.
Hwang is a doctor from South Korea and is learning to be an eye doctor when she realizes that this is not her mission.
Before coming to New Zealand, she worked at an eco-center in Arizona for 10 years, where she was Lee's translator and director of his travel business Meditation Tour.
She is also one of the two trustees of the Earth citizen's New Zealand Charity Trust, and Lily George of Creek.
Li plans to put 360 two
Bed cabins on the Pungaere Rd site, so it is surprising that the area plans to limit the number of people who can stay in the property to 156.
So far, he has laid metal roads, cut down pine trees and built about 30 huts.
The need for consent for earthwork works is obviously another surprise, so the cabin will queue up on the temporary site before the paperwork is sorted out.
"In Korea, the building is faster and there is less consent required, which is why we built the cottage first.
"At first, we were really ignorant and thought it would take three years to get everything done," Huang said . ".
While the slow pace of New Zealand officials was frustrating, she also realized that New Zealand's strict voluntary rules were part of the reason that the country had not yet become a concrete jungle.
"We are getting slower and become kiwi fruit.
We are 100 committed to following these rules.
Hwang also accepted the scale-down of the global village.
"We don't want the site to be crowded, and the whole idea is to connect with nature.
We would like to start with some cabins, solar, bathroom and playground.
In the end, we also want some dormitories.
She hopes the global village will open in 2020.
The idea is that young people from all over the world will be here for a year to learn about environmental sustainability and leadership and then bring the lessons back to their home country.
However, part of the global village that has been completed is through the native bush that covers about the fifth piece of land.
A little bush style-
On the day of my visit, it accompanied the song of riroro (grey warblers)
And p. p (Shiny cuckoo)—
But this is not unusual in New Zealand's view.
However, it seems to the Koreans that this is an original, unspoiled, and extremely beautiful thing.
Along several hundred-meter-long trails, a boardwalk is interrupted by wooden stairs and meditation platforms.
The regular signs on the new life path carry chapter titles from Lee's book in Korean and English, such as "Between Heaven and Earth" and "Dreams that break your heart ".
Walking on 120 steps of wooden stairs reached a climax, which is a reference to Li's belief that the human body can live in 120.
"The design of the stairs is to allow you to reflect on life so far and the rest of your years," Huang said . ".
"Its purpose is to humble you and make your life right by comparing your life to that of the kauri tree. He [Ilchi Lee]
I would really like to invite people from all over the world to visit Bush in New Zealand.
"Jungle Walk" is used by meditation tour groups to practice Qi Gong (
Sports, breathing and meditation systems similar to Tai Chi)and meditation.
Forest meditation is popular in South Korea, but it usually includes lying on the roof of the building, imagining that you are in the bush, all you can hear is the traffic sound on the street below, says Hwang.
"But when I came here, that was exactly what I thought when I was meditating.
Although the global village may be a No. for-
Li is definitely here to do business.
Last year, the meditation tour brought 52 groups to the north, each with 4050 people.
By 2025, Huang said, the figure could be four times that of 10,000 people a year.
About 10 of the company's customers are from South Korea, including Japan and the United States.
Most people live in the resort renamed Haruru Falls, and in addition to spending half a day in the bush at the site of the global village, they are taken to the treaty ground and the hallhia.
Some people still try kayaking meditation on the waitanji River or the Haruru waterfall --
Waitangji walkway
Other programs include the opening of an ecological center for yoga classes in central Creek and plans to offer English courses to overseas students.
Li is also keen to grow medicinal plants and supports marae-
Based on the youth development programme, this is part of the ngtitiwai youth suicide prevention strategy.
However, one of the biggest adventures planned for the meditation tour has been put on hold.
The company bought Marty's cafe and golf driving range on Interstate 10 north of Waipapa to build a martial arts school for South Korea's gapyear students.
Some neighbors object because traffic is expected to increase on their rightof-
This means that the hearing must be agreed upon with sufficient resources.
Li decided to reconsider the location of the school rather than oppose the neighbors.
"Martial arts schools will appear one day, but may be on different websites," Huang said . ".
At the beginning of 2017, the Earth citizen organization held a gathering in krikry and held a peace festival and a series of seminars on the field at the Turner center.
More than 600 people participated, many of whom traveled from South Korea.
The festival includes the surreal scene of hundreds of devotees poking their navel with a navel stick, which Lee says is a device to improve blood circulation and intestinal health, although his presence is accompanied by the kind of worship that is usually reserved for rock stars or royalty --
Plus make sure no one touches his guard.
Such a thing has fueled the rhetoric that krikri was invaded by a cult.
However, Lily George, eco-trustee, attributed the label of this worship to cultural misconceptions.
"This is culture, not a cult.
Their respect for him was misunderstood.
He is very tall.
People are not allowed to touch him during the Kerikeri event-
But what I have seen since then, he knows that New Zealanders like to shake hands and kiss their cheeks.
"Now he even hugs and hugs," said George . "
"I think it's easy for some people to look outside and say 'This is a culture '.
Huang said the speculation prompted her to look up the definition of a cult and learn that all of them involved some form of coercion.
She joked that if it was a cult, it would not be a good cult because she could not even force people to continue to pay the membership fee for the Kerry Carey eco center yoga class.
So why did Li choose New Zealand, especially the north, as the base of his global campaign?
Mr. Huang said Mr. Lee came to New Zealand in early 2013 and visited Auckland, Rotorua and Queenstown.
"For him, Auckland is no different from any other big city in the world, and he is not really connected to the land on the Island, and it is not talking to him.
When Gina Garcia [left]
Widow of composer Russell Garcia
Contacted him and he said that if you leave without coming to the north, you have not really seen New Zealand.
"So he flew to Kerry Carey and from the moment he landed, he felt the land was very warm and warm.
He went to Rainbow Falls and liked the energy of the place.
"When he was walking around, he felt connected and the land was calling him," Huang said . ".
ECO has set up centers in the US, Asia and Europe, but Lee wants to set up his global headquarters elsewhere.
He bought a lot of land in Canada earlier, but when he came back in the winter, he was unhappy.
He admitted it was a mistake.
The land is very beautiful in summer.
After that failure, he began to look for another place.
He returned to New Zealand several times before deciding to use it as his home to find a venue for his global village.
"After traveling around the world, he was surprised to find that New Zealand is not the same as anywhere else. . .
He has never seen this original landscape before.
"The next time I visit the Pungaere Rd hotel by a Korean tour group.
Their number is slightly higher than 30, ranging in age from over 20 to mid-term60s.
Everything looks healthy and no one will sweat or vomit while walking in the jungle.
Another thing that makes them different from the typical Western tour group is how focused they are, in the comments of Hwang Yuxi, there is a lot of applause, oohs and aa at the right moment
From time to time they stopped for a meeting or meditation.
They were particularly impressed and even moved by a rough ancient priri.
They touched it religiously and almost had to be dragged away.
Chae Ryeon Kim, 30, is one of the younger members of the group.
YouTube content producer says she chose the trip after reading Lee's book "I decided to live 120," in which he described his plans for a global village near krikry
This book inspires me to expand myself.
I think this trip will not only give me a break but also grow me, and I like the idea of being cured by nature.
Like everyone else on her team, Kim is in awe of the trees around her
She hasn't even seen Tyne Mahuta yet.
"I am grateful to New Zealand for maintaining such a forest.
I think this Bush is too old to be destroyed.
I think I'm home.