After highschool, Sung left home and studied at Tung Fang Design Institute, from that moment, he tried to seek answers and started to read Plato but couldn't comprehend it, then he read Socrates and Aristotle but still couldn't find an explanation for the beam of light he saw as a child.
After finishing military conscription service, Sung's father gave him NT$1 million to start a shipping business at Taichung harbor.
His sister, Pao-lien, said she always worried about Sung because he was too kind and not cut out for business so she was taken by surprise when he became a religious master.
In 1987 when martial law was lifted in Taiwan, Sung, who was 39 at the time and out of prison, saw an opportunity and began to hang around tea houses, talking and demonstrating his skills.
As word spread about his abilities, he was noticed by someone who then spent large amounts of money to support Sung and helped him take photos.
In 1990, Sung founded the Academy of the Union of Humans and Nature and began recruiting members in Taipei.
[8] The scandal, known locally in Taiwan as the Sung Chi-li Incident (Chinese: 宋七力事件; pinyin: Sòng Qīlì shìjiàn), was first uncovered by Melody Chu Mei-fong, then Taipei city councillor who accused Sung of conning disciples by selling them high-priced photos of him demonstrating his supernatural powers and that by worshiping the pictures, his followers could become a buddha.
Sung and 16 defendants were then sued by former followers and he was indicted on charges of deception for obtaining NT$3 billion in donations [10] by claiming to have supernatural powers by which he could help people.
[11] Sung was arrested on 13 October 1996 [10] Due to a string of religious cult scandals making news headlines such as Sung Chi-li swindling NT$3 billion and Master Miao Tien swindling NT$2 billion, the Executive Yuan organized for the first time a forum to discuss the role and regulation of religion in Taiwan.
[10] On 23 October 1997, Sung and two assistants Chen Cheng-tung (鄭振冬) and Lo Cheng-hung (羅正弘) were convicted of fraud.
In 2005, Sung told TVBS cable news that in 2004 at a gathering in a follower's home, he had taken Hsieh on an outer body tour of Paris with a stopover at the Eiffel Tower where they could touch the cast iron.
[5] In 1998, Sung founded a new religion, the Great Sun Sect whose members are believed to be in the hundreds but an accurate number has not been determined (Chinese: 大日宗; pinyin: Dà rì zōng) [6] Although the scandal had almost hurt Hsieh's political career, he surprised everyone by winning the 1998 Kaohsiung City mayoral election despite being ridiculed and criticized for his link to Sung.
Next Digital also followed up and Sung admitted he is a controversial figure but that he was not afraid of punishment because he has no family and no children to worry about.