[19] According to Ting Jen-Chieh (Ding Renjie), assistant research fellow in the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, by the early 1990s Ching Hai was at odds with the Buddhist establishment in Taiwan.

Rather than submit to their demands, she severed all connections to Buddhist organizations, abandoned the traditional robe, grew out her hair, dressed fashionably, and set out to create her own independent group.

Her home page calls her "Supreme Master Ching Hai, a renowned humanitarian, artist, and spiritual leader" (lingxiu daoshi 領袖道士).

[28] Christopher writes "The debate about the legitimacy of Ching Hai largely plays out through cyber forums from YouTube videos to cult warning websites.

[29] The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has made submissions to the Garnaut Climate Change Review, advocating large cuts to livestock production.

[30][31] According to political scientist Patricia Thornton at the University of Oxford, the Ching Hai World Society's heavy reliance on the internet for text distribution, recruitment and information-sharing, marks the group as a transnational cybersect.

[8] Thornton claimed that the source of income behind Hai's numerous business ventures is unknown[8] and that much of the media produced by her television programmes is heavily self-referential and promotional and aims to "build a public record of recognition for group activities.

"[8] Anthropologist Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko at Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies stated that similar to Ravi Shankar movement, Ching Hai group generally don't self identify as a religion and are very ecumenical.

Abrahms-Kavunenko has also noted that while in the field in Mongolia, Hai's group especially via Supreme Master Television 24 hour broadcast is influencing many Buddhists ideas on meditation and enlightenment, even though they are not sure of the authenticity of her claims.

[20] In Eichman's own view, as infuriating as Hai's persona, her materialism and unsystematic religious synthesizing is to the Taiwanese Buddhist community and to others who have called her a cult leader, when we set aside her Buddhist roots and compare her work to that of an ever-changing array of self-made gurus, spiritual guides and newly formed religions that make up the New Age marketplace, it becomes evident that Ching Hai's work is neither the most radical nor innovative.

The report also lists humanitarian aid to the victims of: 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the Great Flood of 1993 in the United States and the 1995 food shortage crisis in Cambodia.

[33] Upon receiving the Gusi Peace Prize in 2006, Political journalist Fel Maragay wrote in the Manila Standard that while "to her disciples and admirers, she is a messenger from the world of spirituality who has set the directions their lives aright by teaching them “method of enlightenment” through meditation", to the people she provides humanitarian assistance; "she is a good Samaritan who has come to their succor during times of natural calamities.

[44][45][46] In 2018 Lu Wei-Ching, deputy mayor of New Taipei City stated that "the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has always paid attention to the disadvantaged, and usually donates all kinds of clothes and shoes to the homeless.".

[56] Award recipients included organizations such as the Department of Environmental Affairs (South Africa) of its efforts to protect Seals,[57] the Iranian Red Crescent Society, for its humanitarian aid to victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

[58] and International Animal Rescue Indonesia for its work saving critically endangered orangutans in Borneo, protecting rainforest habitats and encouraging sustainable community development.

[59] Or to individuals, such as a young boy from Ohio who bought special harnesses to Police dogs,[60] a lady from India for inventing non violent silk saris.

[63] The Quan Yin method "Full Initiation" involves a life-long commitment to a vegan diet, adherence to the Five Precepts of Buddhism and at least two hours meditation daily.

[64] A 2015 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada Research report states "Sources characterize Guanyin Famen [Quan Yin] as a Buddhist group (Dui Hua Foundation 29 Aug. 2013; US 10 Oct. 2009, 115) or a "Taiwan-based sect" of Buddhism (ibid.)".

In a departure from Christian doctrine, Ching Hai claims that God is not the creator of humans; rather karmic accumulation is responsible for the repeated transmigration of the soul.

Kim at that time; an initiate of Hai's "Convenient Method" explains "Quan Yin signifies the practice of observing sound in the literal sense.

[64] Religious studies scholars, Michael York and others, include Ching Hai in the Indian contemporary Sant Mat movements, where the method is called Surat Shabd Yoga.

[73][74] Professor of religious studies at the University of Lancaster Christopher Partridge wrote that Ching Hai visited India and was initiated by Thakar Singh, a Ruhani Satsang Sant Mat master.

[75] Professor of philosophy David C. Lane, a controversial disciple of Charan Singh a Radha Soami Satsang Beas Sant Mat Master,[76] stated in his 2017 essay "Studying Cults, A Forty-Year Reflection" that "Ching Hai, tried to deny for many years her close association with the notorious shabd yoga guru, Thakar Singh, since she didn't want to be tainted by her former guru's sexual exploits".

[80] In 2002, the manager of the Wuhan Zhongzhi Electric Testing Equipment Company was accused by the Chinese authorities of using the business as a cover to "support heresies" associated with the Quan Yin method.

The manager was charged with using the company's offices and buildings as "retreat sites", organizing "initiations" and "screenings" to recruit members, and illegally printing and distributing more than 6,000 copies of heretical texts.

[83] Cheng-An Tsai added " Liao Zheng-Hao Minister of Justice, actively carried out the “religious crackdown” to purge dissidents including: investigations, tax inspections by the National Taxation Bureau, assets seizure, demolitions of “illegal” structures, and exorbitant fines.

[84] In 2019, speaking in a freedom of religion conference in Taiwan, Li Jianzhong Judge and president of the Shilin District court in Taipe, mentioned that the series of religious suppression incidents in 1996, of Song Qili, Miaotian, Taijimen, Supreme Master Ching Hai, and many other groups that have been targeted: Some lawsuits have been going on for more than 20 years.

[85] SET News reported that in 1996 Miaoli County government demolished an illegal building in Hai's meditation center and that it was searched by prosecutors and police on a large scale, but in the end she was not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.

[89][90] Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Professor & Chair of International studies at UC, Berkeley wrote "Are donations from charismatic Buddhists one whit more threatening than those from Pat Robertson?"

Csikszentmihalyi described the alleged controversy as scapegoating members of minority religious groups in order to divert attention from the real problem of money in politics.".