20 International Journal of Cultic Studies Vol. 4, 2013
the Altar of Mankind Ancestors in Melbourne,
Australia” at the designated meditation time
(HUESA, 2010).
Although HUE emphasizes that it is not a
religion, people who enroll in the organization’s
training program wanting to reap the benefits of
meditation and energy-based healing start by
learning basic techniques and end up venerating
(worshipping?) Master Dang. In the process,
they are gradually introduced to altars, prayers,
and energy pyramids, and to ideas of collective
healing, absolute freedom, purification, spiritual
space travel, spiritual-sexual unification,
communication with higher beings, and
salvation from cataclysmic events that will
affect the planet before the dawn of a new era
devoid of diseases and suffering (Luong, M. D.,
2007b). They are told that those who follow Mr.
Dang’s teachings and help humanity will be able
to survive, while those who do not will suffer,
die, and eventually reincarnate (Luong, M. D.,
2007b Mayer, 2000).
Apparently, none of this information is disclosed
to prospective students or even to current
trainees, who receive Master Dang’s teachings
step by step throughout the “seminars” or, as he
says, who “…listen carefully in order to receive
the newest lessons I reveal so you can learn” the
absolute truth he has received directly from God
and the “Divine Beings” (Luong, M. D., 2004b,
p. 61 2007b, p. 16). Additionally, available
information shows that Mr. Dang’s biography
and HUE’s history have been carefully edited.
There is no mention of Mr. Dang’s arrests and
criminal convictions in Belgium and
Switzerland.6 Nor is there any public
acknowledgment of HUE’s schism of 2007, the
dubious standing of the OIUCM, or of Mr.
Dang’s failed prophecies of the 1990s (see
Mayer, 2000, for discussion).
HUE’s control and distortion of relevant
information, as well as the use of enticements
and fear-inducing admonitions in its teachings
6 In Switzerland, Mr. Dang was prosecuted on charges of fraud,
money laundering through Swiss accounts, illegal practice of
medicine, usury, and use of false academic titles to deceive his
followers. He was arrested and released on bail in 2005 and
indicted by a Geneva magistrate the following year. In 2010, he
was found guilty of all charges (de Cordes, 2011 Mansour, 2010a,
2010b). For more information, see n. 7 below.
give rise to ethical concerns. These and other
psychomanipulative strategies may be used to
influence people’s decisions, alter their behavior
and emotions, and change or control their
thoughts (Krok, 2009 Lalich and Tobias, 2006).
Even if they do not have the same impact on all
people, these strategies are potentially harmful
for some individuals and may indirectly affect
their families and loved ones (Langone, 2001).
The following section discusses in greater detail
some of HUE’s potentially harmful strategies
and teachings.
Potentially Harmful Strategies and
Teachings
HUE’s teachings demonstrate the use by cultic
groups of several strategies of psychological
influence or abuse, including: control and
manipulation of information, emotional abuse,
indoctrination in a system of absolute and
Manichean beliefs, imposition of a single and
unquestionable authority, and some degree of
isolation and control over personal life (see
Rodríguez-Carballeira et al., 2010, for
discussion). As we shall see in this section, the
use of these strategies may harm individuals
financially as well as in terms of their ability to
think critically, their psychological well-being,
and their ethical behavior.
Emotional Manipulation, Suppression of
Critical Thinking, and Financial Exploitation
Starting at level 6, HUE’s teachings become
increasingly manipulative. There is a constant,
repetitive referral to Mr. Dang’s communication
with God and the divine beings, who teach him
everything so that he can, in turn, instruct his
pupils. Mr. Dang uses this rhetorical device as a
form of proof by assertion, generally
accompanied by promised rewards: salvation
from catastrophic events, health, purification,
freedom, wisdom, enlightenment, and the
development of superhuman powers, among
others. These enticements are then followed by
admonitions of the consequences of not
following the Master’s teachings: not escaping
the wheel of karma, losing the company and
blessings of higher beings, attracting sickness
and disease (to oneself and one’s family),
destroying oneself, and “other serious
consequences” (Luong, M. D., 2007b, p. 32).
the Altar of Mankind Ancestors in Melbourne,
Australia” at the designated meditation time
(HUESA, 2010).
Although HUE emphasizes that it is not a
religion, people who enroll in the organization’s
training program wanting to reap the benefits of
meditation and energy-based healing start by
learning basic techniques and end up venerating
(worshipping?) Master Dang. In the process,
they are gradually introduced to altars, prayers,
and energy pyramids, and to ideas of collective
healing, absolute freedom, purification, spiritual
space travel, spiritual-sexual unification,
communication with higher beings, and
salvation from cataclysmic events that will
affect the planet before the dawn of a new era
devoid of diseases and suffering (Luong, M. D.,
2007b). They are told that those who follow Mr.
Dang’s teachings and help humanity will be able
to survive, while those who do not will suffer,
die, and eventually reincarnate (Luong, M. D.,
2007b Mayer, 2000).
Apparently, none of this information is disclosed
to prospective students or even to current
trainees, who receive Master Dang’s teachings
step by step throughout the “seminars” or, as he
says, who “…listen carefully in order to receive
the newest lessons I reveal so you can learn” the
absolute truth he has received directly from God
and the “Divine Beings” (Luong, M. D., 2004b,
p. 61 2007b, p. 16). Additionally, available
information shows that Mr. Dang’s biography
and HUE’s history have been carefully edited.
There is no mention of Mr. Dang’s arrests and
criminal convictions in Belgium and
Switzerland.6 Nor is there any public
acknowledgment of HUE’s schism of 2007, the
dubious standing of the OIUCM, or of Mr.
Dang’s failed prophecies of the 1990s (see
Mayer, 2000, for discussion).
HUE’s control and distortion of relevant
information, as well as the use of enticements
and fear-inducing admonitions in its teachings
6 In Switzerland, Mr. Dang was prosecuted on charges of fraud,
money laundering through Swiss accounts, illegal practice of
medicine, usury, and use of false academic titles to deceive his
followers. He was arrested and released on bail in 2005 and
indicted by a Geneva magistrate the following year. In 2010, he
was found guilty of all charges (de Cordes, 2011 Mansour, 2010a,
2010b). For more information, see n. 7 below.
give rise to ethical concerns. These and other
psychomanipulative strategies may be used to
influence people’s decisions, alter their behavior
and emotions, and change or control their
thoughts (Krok, 2009 Lalich and Tobias, 2006).
Even if they do not have the same impact on all
people, these strategies are potentially harmful
for some individuals and may indirectly affect
their families and loved ones (Langone, 2001).
The following section discusses in greater detail
some of HUE’s potentially harmful strategies
and teachings.
Potentially Harmful Strategies and
Teachings
HUE’s teachings demonstrate the use by cultic
groups of several strategies of psychological
influence or abuse, including: control and
manipulation of information, emotional abuse,
indoctrination in a system of absolute and
Manichean beliefs, imposition of a single and
unquestionable authority, and some degree of
isolation and control over personal life (see
Rodríguez-Carballeira et al., 2010, for
discussion). As we shall see in this section, the
use of these strategies may harm individuals
financially as well as in terms of their ability to
think critically, their psychological well-being,
and their ethical behavior.
Emotional Manipulation, Suppression of
Critical Thinking, and Financial Exploitation
Starting at level 6, HUE’s teachings become
increasingly manipulative. There is a constant,
repetitive referral to Mr. Dang’s communication
with God and the divine beings, who teach him
everything so that he can, in turn, instruct his
pupils. Mr. Dang uses this rhetorical device as a
form of proof by assertion, generally
accompanied by promised rewards: salvation
from catastrophic events, health, purification,
freedom, wisdom, enlightenment, and the
development of superhuman powers, among
others. These enticements are then followed by
admonitions of the consequences of not
following the Master’s teachings: not escaping
the wheel of karma, losing the company and
blessings of higher beings, attracting sickness
and disease (to oneself and one’s family),
destroying oneself, and “other serious
consequences” (Luong, M. D., 2007b, p. 32).
