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Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; pinyin: Lǐ Hóngzhì) family name is Li. Ethnicity Han Chinese, speaks Mandarin, he is the founder of Falun Gong also called Falun Dafa, a system of mind-body cultivation. Mr. Li currently resides in the United States and is a US permenant resident.

According to Pureinsight, a Falun Dafa website, Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth Middle school in Changchun City, China. From 1992 to 1994, on receiving invitations from State Qi Gong Organizations in each Area, Li travelled accross China, giving more than 54 lecture series and teaching the Falun Gong exercises. Since then the practice was spread by word of mouth and by practitioners volunarily. Li continues to give lectures at Falun Gong conferences outside of China today.

As practitioners started spreading the system, Li Hongzhi stipulated that promoting the Falun Gong could never be done for fame and money, practitioners must not accept any fee, donation or gift in return of their voluntary promotion of the practice.

As practitioners started spreading the system, Li Hongzhi stipulated that promoting the Falun Gong could never be done for fame and money, practitioners must not accept any fee, donation or gift in return of their voluntary promotion of the practice.

Biography

According to an official biography of Li, previoulsy included in the index of his Zhuan Falun (the central text of Falun Gong), Li was born in Guangzhulin, Jilin province, China, on May 13, 1951. At the age of four Li began studing under his first master, Law Master Quan Jue, "the 10th heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School". After eight years, this Master left Li for him to be guided under a new master. The biography states that Li continued to be guided under numerous masters throughout his life, and that "over a period of about a dozen of years, he received instructions successively from more than twenty masters from both the Buddha School and the Tao School." Over these years Li supposedly developed a number of supernormal abilities, including levetation and invisibility, and deep wisdom, understanding truth of the universe, and even the origin, development, and future of the humankind.

In 1992, Li Hongzhi introduced the practice of Falun Gong to the general public in China . He taught the practice publicly in China over the course of the following two years, after which the practice continued to grow primarily by word-of-mouth. After this time, Li began giving lectures outside of China, and eventually settled in the US in 1997. Li Hongzhi continues to attend Falun Gong conferences in North America, where he often addresses practitioners and lectures on Falun Gong.

In Li Hongzhi’s Canadian lectures held on May 23, 1999 in Toronto, a question was asked to Mr. Li: "I want to recommend to a newspaper that they publish the Master’s biography. Is this appropriate?" and he answered:

No. I don’t want to speak about my own situation. Nobody should. Because everybody wanted to find out about me there was a very, very simple biography in Zhuan falun. Now I had asked them to take it out. What I tell you about is the Law (Dharma), everyone should study this Law. Have no interest in my circumstances! Just study the Law and that will lead you to consummation.

Awards and Recognition

At the Asian health expo of 1992 and 1993 in Beijing, Falun Gong is successively nominated as the "Star Qigong". According to Falun, Li Hongzhi received "The Award for Advancing Boundary Science" and "Qigong Master most Acclaimed by the Masses" at the Oriental Health Expo, Beijing in 1993.

In September 1999, Li was awarded honorary citizenship of the city by the Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

Li Hongzhi was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize by nearly 600 professors and government officials from 21 countries. Mr. Li was also nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2001 by 28 members of the European Parliament, but failed to make the shortlist.

Relations with Chinese authorities

On July 29, 1999, after the onset of The Persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Li Hongzhi. A request for arrest warrant was also sent to Interpol, and his passport was revoked, preventing him from traveling internationally. Interpol apparently rejected the warrant, on the grounds that it would violate Article Three of the organization's constitution, which forbids Interpol from intervening in "matters of a political, religious, military or racial character".

In China, Li's name remains blacklisted by the Great Firewall of China, and some Falun Gong practitioners are held in prisons or Laogai (forced labor camps). Under pressure some of them have denounced him as part of their "re-education" process.

Disputes

Birthdate

In 1999, after the persecution against Falun Gong was launched, the Chinese authorities alleged that Li fraudulently “changed his date of birth to make it coincide with the birthday of Sakyamuni". Li claims that he was born on May 13, 1951, however, Chinese authorities allege that his actual birthdate was July 7, 1952.

In an interview with Time magazine, Li asserts that he merely corrected his birth data which was confused during the Cultural Revolution, and has not drawn particular significance to it, claiming to be "just a very ordinary man".

Wall Street Journal Article

According to a Wall Street Journal report "American Dream Finds Chinese Spiritual Leader," on November 1, 1999, Li was offered a house in New York for $293,500 in 1998 shortly after immigrating to the US, then was offered another for $580,000 in New Jersey in 1999. John Sun, a wealthy New York Falun Gong practitioner,pointed out in a letter to the editor of Wall Street Journal that he bought the house in Li’s wife’s name as an attempt to offer it as a gift, but Mr. and Mrs. Li firmly refused to accept the house.

References

1. "Governmental Awards and Recognition of Falun Dafa". Falundafa Clearwisdom.net. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. "Nobel Peace Prize deadline looms". CNN. January 30, 2001.
3. "Statement by Francis Wurtz MEP, on the 2001 Sakharov Prize selection". Confederal Group of the European United Left. 18 October, 2001. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Li Honzhi is Wanted". China-Embassy.org. June 29, 1999.
5. "I am just a very ordinary man". Time Magazine. August 2, 1999.
6. "Letters from Falun Gong practitioners to Wall Street Journal". Falundafa Clearwisdom.net. November 17, 1999.

External links

• Videos of Li Hongzhi's Nine day lecture in Guangzhou, China. (English overlay)
• Book: Practitioners recollection about their Teacher (Li Hongzhi) while He was introducing Falun Gong (free to download)
• 1999 statement by Li Hongzhi
• Interviews with Li Hongzhi, New York Times Magazine, August 8, 1999
• Extensive May 1999 interview with Li Hongzhi several news agencies, in Sydney Australia
• May 1999 interview with Li Hongzhi by Time Magazine Asia
• Who is Li Hongzhi? BBC Interview (RealPlayer video)
• Li Hongzhi interviewed by Time Magazine Asia in August 1999
• The actual teachings of Li Hongzhi, online
• Summary of a 2004 interview with Li Hongzhi with NTDTV, the first since 1999, hosted on a Falun Dafa website
• "Some Thoughts of Mine"]
• 2001 San Jose Mercury News critical article held at Rick Ross, a "cult watchdog" group

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