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Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; pinyin: Lǐ Hóngzhì) (born in Gongzhuling city, Jilin, China) is the founder of Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), a system of "mind-body cultivation" related to the qigong tradition.

Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth middle school in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises. In 1999 the Chinese government estimated the number of Falun Gong practitioners to be approximately 70 million. Since July 1999, the Chinese government has conducted a widespread persecution of Falun Gong. Today, he lives in New York City, United States.

Biography

Life in China

The Chinese authorities state Li studied at primary and junior high middle schools in Changchun between 1960 and 1969. After graduation, Li worked at an army stud farm, and then was as a trumpet player in a forest police unit in Jilin Province and afterwards served as an attendant at a hotel attached to the same unit. Between 1982 and 1991, he became a worker at the security department of the Changchun Cereals Company.

According to the biography of Li Hongzhi that appeared as an appendix to the Falun Dafa text Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi had been taught ways of "cultivation practice" (xiulian) by several Masters of the Dao and the Buddhist schools of thought from a very young age. This biography stated that he was trained by Quan Jue, the 10th Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School, at fours years of age. Li was then trained by a Taoist master at age eight, by which time he had acquired "supernatural powers". Master Quan left him at age twelve, and he was then trained by a master of the Great Way School with the Taoist (alias of True Taoist), who had come from the Changbai Mountains.

Time Magazine also notes Li worked as a grain clerk in Liaoning province. He played trumpet in a troupe run by the forestry police in Jilin. "And then he wrote a very odd book that affected millions." Li Hongzhi founded Falun Gong, and introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth middle school in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises. According to Livia Kohn, expert on Daoism at Boston University, Li "claimed to be the reincarnation of a bodhisattva and promised practitioners complete recovery from all illnesses, supernatural powers, and the attainment of cosmic enlightenment." Nervous that Li had acquired considerable mass appeal, qigong regulators had difficulty reigning him in. The government pressured him to leave China, and he did so in 1997.

For the first few years of spreading Falun Gong, Li was granted several awards by Chinese governmental organizations to encourage him to continue promoting what was then considered to be a wholesome practice. University of Montreal scholar David Ownby noted that neither Li nor Falun Gong were particularly controversial in the beginning. Li became an "instant star of the qigong movement," with his practice method celebrated at the Beijing Oriental Health Expos of both 1992 and 1993. Falun Gong was welcomed into the Scientific Qigong Research Association, which sponsored and helped organise many of Li's activities between 1992 and 1994, including the 54 large-scale lectures given throughout China in most major cities to a total audience of 20,000.

Life outside China

Li has lived in the United States of America since 1998.

Attention had been given to Li Hongzhi because of the content of his lectures, including his direct or indirect claims of having "supernatural powers". Maria Hsia Chang suggested that, based on Li's quotations, especially his direct or indirect claims of divinity, Falun Gong can rightfully be considered a religion.

Li had given open-ended responses when asked about his identity. When asked in May 1999 if he was a human being, Li responded: "You can think of me as a human being." When asked to name his teachers, Li replied that he had masters in two schools, but declined to divulge their names.

Relations with the Chinese authorities

On July 29, 1999, shortly after the Chinese authorities banned Falun Gong, Li was put on the "wanted list," and had a series of charges leveled against him, including the catch-all "disturbing public order."

At that time, Li Hongzhi was living in the United States. A request for an arrest warrant was also sent by China to Interpol, and his passport was revoked, preventing him from traveling internationally. Interpol rejected the warrant, on the grounds that it would not intervene in the absence of charges "in matters of a political or religious 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. During the persecution, some practitioners have been forced to denounce Li during physical and mental torture as part of their "re-education" process.

Awards and recognition

Li Hongzhi was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. 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 short list.

In 2007 he was ranked joint 12th in a list of the world's top 100 living geniuses compiled by a panel of six unnamed 'experts' in creativity and innovation assembled by a global consultants firm. The Telegraph reported that "Each genius was... awarded scores out of ten against criteria which included: paradigm shifting; popular acclaim; intellectual power; achievement and cultural importance." The descriptions of the individuals in the panel's report were largely based on Misplaced Pages.

Personal controversies

Birth date

In 1999, the Chinese authorities alleged Li fraudulently changed his birth date. Li claims that he was born on May 13, 1951. The Chinese government claimed that he "changed his date of birth , in order to coincide with the birthday of Sakyamuni".

In an interview with Time, Li asserted that he merely corrected his birth date, which was recorded as July 7, 1952, due to a bureaucratic error made during the Cultural Revolution. Li admitted changing the date, but said he did not draw particular significance to the coincidence, claiming to be "just a very ordinary man".

Personal assets

The Wall Street Journal revealed that Li obtained a house in New York worth $293,500 in 1998 shortly after immigrating to the U.S., and then another worth $580,000 in New Jersey in 1999. These purchases were considered surprising in the context of Li's reportedly low income up to that point in time.

John Sun, a wealthy New York Falun Gong practitioner, claimed that he had tricked Li's wife into signing the purchase deeds for a house in New Jersey in an attempt to offer it as a gift, knowing that Li and his wife would refuse the lavish gift. He indicated that the gift was firmly refused once it became known to both of them, and that the subsequent transfer out of her name was processed by the township in October, owing to some delay by the local township in updating the associated records.

In May of 1999 Li rebuked claims by critics that he was angling for money, claiming that if he wanted to be a millionaire, he would ask practitioners to each give him a small amount of money, "Why would I put forth so much effort just to make money? All I would need would be to tell all of you to give me ten dollars, then I would be a billionaire. What a fast and easy way that would be! You all would be happy to give it to me and I could receive it openly. Why would I resort to putting forth so much effort? I think that sometimes people have impure intentions. They take things in a very narrow-minded and stupid way."

Competing representations

Some scholars suggest that Li Hongzhi assumes the role of a supernatural entity within the teachings of Falun Gong. Others dispute this formulation. Maria Hsia Chang, for example, opines that “If Li Hongzhi’s disciples can become gods by engaging in Falun Gong, it stands to reason that the founder of this cultivation practice must himself be a deity.” Though on this point Johnson provides a different interpretation. He suggests that Li Hongzhi emphasises his teachings as simple revelations of “eternal truths”, known since “time immemorial” but which have been corrupted over the course of time. Johnson opines that Li does not claim to be a “messiah or god”, but “only a wise teacher who has seen the light.”

Chang refers to Li Hongzhi's teaching on the "Dharma-ending period." She opines that this is apocalyptic, and that "Li has set about disseminating Falun Dafa so as 'to provide salvation to mankind….in this final period of the Last Havoc.'" Penny disagrees with this interpretation and dissuades from considering Falun Gong as one of "these genuinely apocalyptic groups", or "that kind of organisation that believes that the world's going to end next Thursday." He considers Falun Gong "an entirely different thing", and suggests that Li Hongzhi's teachings ought to be considered in the context of a "much more Buddhist notion of the cycle of the Dharma or the Buddhist law."

Chinese cult critic Sima Nan refers to Chinese history as full of charismatic masters like Li Hongzhi, and linked to Li's exercises to Chairman Mao Zedong's cult of personality.

Rick Ross and Margaret Singer have claimed that Li Hongzhi meets their definition of a "cult leader". However, the proponents of such views have come under criticism within the academic community, and their claims are disputed.

References

1. Faison, Seth (April 27, 1999) "In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protesters" New York Times, retrieved June 10, 2006
2. ^ Why Li Hongzhi changes his birthdate, People's Daily, 23 July 1999
3. ^ Brief biography of Li Hongzhi: founder of Falun Gong and president of the Falun Gong Research Society, Chinese Law and Government v.32 #6 (Nov./Dec. 1999) p. 14-23 ISSN: 0009-4609
4. Time:Spiritual Society or Evil Cult? June 2001
5. Livia Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture, p. 196 (University of Hawaii Press; 2nd edition, 1 May 2001) ISBN-10: 1931483000, ISBN-13: 978-1931483001
6. Joel P. Engardio, Spiritual CULTivation, New Times (Los Angeles), March 23 - 29, 2000
7. David Ownby, "The Falun Gong in the New World," European Journal of East Asian Studies, Sep2003, Vol. 2 Issue 2, p 306
8. ^ Chang, Maria Hsia (2004) Falun Gong: The End of Days (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press) ISBN 0-300-10227-5
9. ^ Dowell, William (May 10, 1999) "Interview with Li Hongzhi", retrieved June 10, 2006
10. "Li Hongzhi is Wanted". China-Embassy.org. June 29, 1999.
11. "Wanted: Li Hongzhi", BBC News, 29 July, 1999
12. Interpol will not arrest sect leader, BBC News, August 3, 1999
13. "Nobel Peace Prize deadline looms". CNN. January 30, 2001.
14. "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)
15. Telegraph.co.uk, Top 100 living geniuses, accessed 19/3/08
16. Synectics Survey of Contemporary Genius 2007 "All description of the above individuals are taken from public sources and are based, primarily, on entries available on Misplaced Pages (www.wikipedia.com)"
17. "I am just a very ordinary man". Time Magazine. August 2, 1999.
18. "American Dream Finds Chinese Spiritual Leader," Wall Street Journal, November 1, 1999
19. "Letters from Falun Gong practitioners to Wall Street Journal". Falun Dafa ClearWisdom.net. November 17, 1999.
20. Li Hongzhi, Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Canada, 1999, accessed 19/3/08
21. p 212
22. Radio National, Falun Gong: Cult or Culture?, produced by Chris Bullock, , accessed September 19, 2007.
23. Don Lattin, Falun Gong Derided as Authoritarian Sect by Anti-Cult Experts in Seattle, San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2000
24. An Interview with Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer, Chinese Embassy in the USA
25. Rick Ross, Cult News
26. Brian Edelman and James T. Richardson, "Imposed limitations of Freedom of Religion in China: A Legal Analysis of the Crackdown on the Falun Gong and other "Evil Cults," Journal of Church and State (Vol. 47, Issue 2), pp. 243-268

External links

Li Hongzhi's teachings

• Videos of Li Hongzhi's nine day lecture in Guangzhou, China (English overlay) at falundafa.org
• "Some Thoughts of Mine", June 1999 at falundafa.org
• Book: Practitioners recollection about their Teacher at clearwisdon.net
• The actual teachings of Li Hongzhi at falundafa.org

Interviews

• William Dowell (May 10, 1999). "Interview with Li Hongzhi". TIMEasia.com.
• "Interview with Li Hongzhi in Sydney, Australia". May 2, 1999.
• Anthony Spaeth (August 2, 1999). "Interview: Li Hongzhi "I am just a very ordinary man"". TIMEasia.com.
• Jonathan S. Landreth and J.S. Greenberg (August 8, 1999). "Eye of the Storm". New York Times Magazine.
• "NTDTV Press Release: Summary of the Exclusive Interview with Mr. Li Hongzhi, Founder of Falun Gong". clearharmony.net. January 25, 2004.

• Misplaced Pages articles needing factual verification from March 2008
• 1951 births
• Living people
• Chinese dissidents
• Religious leaders
• Falun Gong