I couldn't Qinggong FAQ, so I come here.
I'm somewhat confused by the lvl8 and lvl10 tiers, since the next highest ability the monk gets is Diamond Body at 11. Seems to be little point in listing them like that instead of making a lvl7 tier/lvl11 tier.
Ex. Wholeness of Body is normally a lvl7 ability, however it's in the lvl8 tier via Qinggong. Can you elect to not have Wholeness of Body at 7 (as you're opting out of it via Qinggong) to pick another lvl8 tier ability when you actually reach level 8?
No, you cannot elect to not have Wholeness of Body at 7 in order to swap it for level 8 ability.
The list of abilities is what you can take, not what you give up.
You can take Wholeness of Body at level 8 if you do not have it.
Example: At level 7 instead of taking Wholeness of Body you took Gaseous Form. At level 11 you decide (for whatever reason) you really would rather have Wholeness of Body instead of Diamond Body so you get Wholeness of Body instead of Diamond Body.
Now, with that said, why they set up the levels as they did I have no idea. It doesn't mesh well with the list of powers you can give up.
Give up: 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 17, 19, 20
List of powers: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20.
Which means that level 8 and level 10 powers are really level 11 powers since you cannot take them until then.
i mentioned this like a week or 2 ago. I found this all very strange as well, the abilities you gain are even levels when most of what you give up are odd levels, with the lvl 8-10 hiccup...