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Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a system of "mind and body cultivation" introduced to the public in China by Li Hongzhi (（李洪志）) in 1992. It is a form of qigong practice and is, in some aspects, similar to Buddhism and Taoism. It has five sets of meditation exercises, and seeks to develop practitioners' heart and character according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance (真，善，忍）articulated in the main books Falun Gong（法輪功）and Zhuan Falun（轉法輪）. The teachings deal with issues such as "cultivation of virtue and character", "moral standards for different levels", and "salvation of all sentient beings", among others. The books have been translated into over 40 languages.

The exact number of practitioners is not known: a 1998 figure from the Chinese government suggests there were 70 million practitioners in China at that time; Falun Gong claims 100 million practitioners in more than 80 countries.

On July 20, 1999, 3 months after 10,000 practitioners staged a silent protest at the Chinese Communist Party headquarters at Zhongnanhai the authorities banned and began a crackdown on Falun Gong in mainland China. In the attempt to eradicate the practice, practitioners have been publicly vilified by state media, fired from their jobs, and subject to widespread torture in custody, beatings, illegal imprisonment, psychiatric abuses, and forced labor terms. Amnesty International believes it is politically motivated and a restriction of fundamental freedoms. In early 2006, David Kilgour and David Matas published a report, based on circumstantial evidence, that concluded that the authorities had been systematically harvesting the organs of living practitioners. Though their methods of investigation have been questioned in a Congressional Research Service report and by some journalists, and the report rejected by the Chinese government, the authors maintain their conclusion.

The U.S. House of Representatives accused China of unlawful harassment of United States citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong, and passed a resolution unanimously calling on the Chinese government to "cease its persecution and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States" Practitioners also draw attention to their plight by demonstrating the meditation exercises, distributing flyers, displaying banners, initiating lawsuits, demonstrating outside Chinese consulates around the world, and holding other public events.

The Falun Gong movement has aroused some controversies in the West as well. In 2001, Time Magazine ran a story on the movement headlined "Spiritual Society or Evil Cult?". In the article, it is however concluded: "s Falun Gong a cult? Not necessarily, if classic characteristics of cults are taken into account."

Origins

Falun Gong was introduced to the public by Li Hongzhi on May 13, 1992, in Changchun, Jilin. According to Li, Falun Gong is an advanced "cultivation system" in the "Buddha School" which, in the past, was handed down to chosen disciples and served as an intensive "cultivation method" that required practitioners with extremely high “Xinxing” (mind-nature; heart-nature; character) or “great inborn quality.” Li taught the practice for three years and since then Falun Gong has also been propagated by volunteer practitioners.

Theoretical background

The content of Li Hongzhi's books include commentaries on questions that have been raised in China's qigong community. Falun Gong originally surfaced in the institutional field of alternative Chinese science, not religion. The debate between what can be called "naturalist" and "supernaturalist" schools of qigong theory has produced a considerable amount of literature from well-known writers and scientists. Scholar Xu Jian analysed the intellectual debate, which involved both scientific research on qigong and the prevailing revival of nationalistic traditional beliefs and values. “Taking “discourse” in its contemporary sense as referring to forms of representation that generate specific cultural and historical fields of meaning, we can describe one such discourse as rational and scientific and the other as psychosomatic and metaphysical. Each strives to establish its own order of power and knowledge, its own “truth” about the “reality” of qigong, although they differ drastically in their explanation of many of its phenomena.” At the center of the debate is whether and how qigong can bring forth “supernormal abilities” (teyi gongneng 特異功能). “The psychosomatic discourse emphasizes the inexplicable power of qigong and relishes its occult workings, whereas the rational discourse strives to demystify many of its phenomena and to situate it strictly in the knowledge of modern science." The Chinese government has generally tried to encourage qigong as a science and discourage religious or supernatural elements. However, the category of science in China tends to include things that are generally not considered scientific in the West, including qigong and traditional Chinese medicine.

David Aikman wrote that unlike in America, where many may believe that qigong is a socially neutral, subjective, New Age-style concept incapable of scientific proof, much of China's scientific establishment believes in the existence of Qi. Controlled experiments by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the late 1970s and early 1980s concluded that qi, when emitted by a qigong expert, "actually constitutes measurable infrared electromagnetic waves and causes chemical changes in static water through mental concentration."

Theories about the cultivation of elixir (dan), "placement of the mysterious pass" (xuanguan shewei), among others, are also found in ancient Chinese texts such as The Book of Elixir (Dan Jing), Daoist Canon (Tao Zang) and Guide to Nature and Longevity (Xingming Guizhi). Falun Gong's teachings tap into a wide array of phenomena and cultural heritage that has been debated for ages. However, the definitions of many of the terms used differ somewhat from Buddhist and Daoist traditions.

Li Hongzhi states in Falun Buddha Fa Lecture in Europe: "Since the time Dafa was made public, I have unveiled some inexplicable phenomena in qigong as well as things that hadn’t been explained in the qigong community. But... the reason why so many people are studying Dafa... because our Fa can truly enable people to Consummate, truly save people, and allow you to truly ascend to high levels in the process of cultivation. Whether it’s your realm of mind or the physical quality of your body, the Fa truly enables you to reach the standards of different levels."

Andrew P. Kipnis said that qigong may seem to be religious to laymen in the West because it deals with spiritual matters. As many Falun Gong concepts can be traced to Buddhism and Taoism, it may seem even more like a religion to the outsider "Falun Gong grew initially into a space termed scientific , but was insulated from the spaces formally acknowledged as institutionalized science in Western countries"

1992 - early 1999

Invited by qigong organizations from each area, Li traveled to almost all major cities in China from 1992 to 1994 to teach the practice. Since then, Falun Gong has been spread by practitioners themselves, with Li only giving speeches on an irregular basis around the world. Falun Gong quickly grew in popularity in China, and starting in 1996 Li and practitioners introduced the practice to other countries.

According to the biography which appeared as an appendix to 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 says that he was trained by Quan Jue, the 10th Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School, at age four. He was then trained by a Taoist master at age eight. This master 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 came from the Changbai Mountains.

After Li stopped teaching the practice in Mainland China, before 1999, people learned the practice by word of mouth, and was usually practiced in the morning in parks like many other forms of exercise in China. After teaching publicly in Changchun, Li began to make his ideas more widely accessible and affordable, charging relatively less than other qigong systems for lectures, tapes, and books.

For the first few years of transmitting 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 to 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. Its scale was unprecedented at that time. The practice was popularized in mainland China for seven years, mainly by word of mouth. It attracted many retired persons, factory workers, farmers, state enterprise managers, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and students.

Since 1995, Li taught the practice outside of China. Starting in France, Li gave a series of conferences in the Chinese embassy in Paris in 1995. In 1994 Falun Gong was also being taught at the Chinese consulate in New York, as part of the Party's "cultural propaganda to the West" alongside Chinese silk and cooking. The Chinese consulate at that time also set up the Falun Gong clubs at MIT and Columbia University, which are active to this day. On 4 January 1995, Zhuan Falun was published.

The Economist asserts that much of Falun Gong's success in the 1990s was due to claims that it could heal without costly medicine, as many citizens had lost medical benefits and services due to changing economic conditions. Some in China maintained that Falun Gong was the most popular qigong practice in the country, and that many professors from Peking University practised the exercises every day on the campus grounds until the crackdown in 1999.

The exact number of Falun Gong practitioners is not known. Falun Gong consistently states that there are no practitioner registers or membership. According to a New York Times article published in 1999, the PRC government estimated there were 70 million practitioners.

1999 and beyond in mainland China

In April 1999, He Zuoxiu, a physicist, wrote an article in the Tianjin College of Education’s Youth Reader magazine entitled “I Do Not Agree with Youth Practicing qigong,” and made criticism of Falun Gong . The mention of Falun Gong was considered unfair or untrue by practitioners, who gathered to appeal the article. Police were allegedly called, and then beat and arrested a number of them. On April 25, Falun Gong practitioners lined the streets near Zhongnanhai in silence, seeking legal recognition and protection of the practice in light of the alleged beatings and arrests in Tianjin.

The ban

On July 20, 1999, following seven years of rapid growth of the practice within mainland China;, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) issued a statement banning Falun Gong:

China today banned the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control after deeming them to be illegal.

In its decision on this matter issued today, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said that according to investigations, the Research Society of Falun Dafa had not been registered according to law and had been engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability.

The decision said that therefore, in accordance with the Regulations on the Registration and Management of Mass Organizations, the Research Society of Falun Dafa and the Falun Gong organization under its control are held to be illegal and are therefore banned.

Xinhua further declared that Falun Gong was a highly organised political group "opposed to the Communist Party of China and the central government, preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition". It attempted to make the distinction between "ordinary core members" and the leaders, which it referred to as "a small number of behind-the-scenes plotters and organizers who harbor political intentions". It struck a warning-bell against some important Party and government officials who were members. Xinhua also affirmed that "the so-called 'truth, kindness and forbearance' principle preached by Li has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve."

Li Hongzhi responded with a "Brief Statement of Mine" on July 22:

Falun Gong is simply a popular qigong activity. It does not have any particular organization, let alone any political objectives. We have never been involved in any anti-government activities. I am a cultivator myself, and I have never been destined to be involved in political power. I am just teaching people how to practice cultivation. If one wants to practice qigong well, he/she must be a person of high moral standards...

We are not against the government now, nor will we be in the future. Other people may treat us badly, but we do not treat others badly, nor do we treat people as enemies.

We are calling for all governments, international organizations, and people of goodwill worldwide to extend their support and assistance to us in order to resolve the present crisis that is taking place in China.

The persecution

A nationwide crackdown ensued with the exception of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. In late 1999 legislation was created to outlaw "heterodox religions," and applied to Falun Gong retroactively.

According to some reports, every aspect of society was mobilized against Falun Gong, including the media apparatus, police force, army, education system, families, and workplaces. An extra-constitutional body, the "6-10 Office" was created to "oversee the terror campaign," which was allegedly driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspaper, radio and internet. Families and workplaces were urged to cooperate with the government's position on Falun Gong, while practitioners themselves were subject to various severe coercive measures to have them recant. Amnesty International declares the persecution to be politically motivated and a restriction of fundamental freedoms.

Protests in Beijing were frequent for the first few years following the 1999 edict, though they have largely been eradicated. Practitioners' presence in mainland China has become more low-profile, as they opt for alternative methods of informing the public persecution, such as through overnight letterbox drops of CD-ROMs. They have occasionally hacked into state television channels to broadcast their material, with harsh repercussions. Practitioners are globally active in appealing to governments, media and the people of their respective countries about the situation in China.

There are particular concerns over reports of torture, illegal imprisonment including forced labour, and psychiatric abuses. Falun Gong related cases comprise 66% of all reported torture cases in China, and at least half of the labour camp population. Since early 2006, allegations of systematic organ harvesting from living practitioners have been made by Falun Gong, and an investigation led by two Canadian parliamentarians has lent some support to the claims. According to David Matas, one of the investigators, his evidence "has not been refuted". Kilgour and Matas's conclusions have been questioned by the Congressional Research Service, which regarded them inconsistent with the findings of other investigations, relying largely on logical inferences. The Christian Science Monitor states that the report's evidence is circumstantial but persuasive.

Suspected reasons

A World Journal article suggested that certain high-level Party officials had wanted to crackdown on the practice for several years, but lacked sufficient pretext until this time. Jiang Zemin is often considered to be largely personally responsible for the final decision, both by Falun Gong and academics. Cited possible motives include personal jealously of Li Hongzhi, anger, ideological struggle, the nature of Communist Party rule and a perceived challenge to it.

Beliefs and teachings

Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, introduces the principles and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises. Zhuan Falun is the core text of Falun Dafa practice.

The foundation of Falun Dafa are teachings known in traditional Chinese culture as the "Fa" (Dharma), or "Dharma and principles" – that are set forth in the book Zhuan Falun: "Falun Buddha Fa is a great, high-level cultivation way of the Buddha School, in which assimilation to the supreme nature of the universe, Zhen-Shan-Ren , is the foundation of cultivation practice." Falun Gong teaches that the Fa or "Buddha Law" can be summarized in three words – Zhen 真, Shan 善 and Ren 忍, which translate approximately as 'truthfulness, benevolence (or compassion), and forbearance'. The process of cultivation is said to be one in which the practitioner assimilates himself or herself to Zhen, Shan and Ren. The teachings of Falun Dafa are articulated in the two main books of the practice, Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun.

Falun Gong lays emphasis on its ideas of good moral nature and morality. Practitioners are required to emphasize virtue (de), be a good person in all environments, and always be considerate of others when doing things.

According to Li Hongzhi, the sole criterion that distinguishes good from bad is the unchanging characteristic of the universe: Zhen-Shan-Ren. In Zhuan Falun, Li states:

“As a practitioner, one must follow this characteristic of the universe to conduct himself instead of the standard of ordinary people… As a human being, if you can follow this universe’s characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren, you are a good person.”

In May 1998, Li made statements condemning homosexuality. He stated that homosexuality was "dark state of mind", and suggested that homosexuality was incompatible with cultivation. However, homosexuals can practice Falun Gong if they "correct this bad behavior."

In a speech in Los Angeles (2006), Li Hongzhi emphasizes that in practicing cultivation one must lay emphasis on cultivation of one's own heart nature or "xinxing":

• "Cultivation is about looking inside yourself. Whether you are right or wrong, you should examine yourself".
• "Cultivation is about getting rid of human attachments. If you always reject reproaches and criticism, always point your fingers at others, and always refute others' disapproval and criticism, is that cultivating? How is that cultivating? You have grown used to focusing on other people's shortcomings, and never take examining your own self seriously. When others' cultivation one day meets with success, what about you?"

Third party views

Some scholars such as Benjamin Penny of the Australian National University have given detailed treatments of Chinese Buddhist publications and what they have written on Falun Gong, while others such as Noah Porter, Susan Palmer and David Ownby have made ethnographic studies of Falun Gong as it is currently transmitted and practiced in the United States. James Tong has written about the development of the campaign to persecute the practice in Mainland China, also analysing the use of the Communist states' media apparatus in its portrayal of Falun Gong as a well-financed organisation. Scholarly research on Falun Gong and its place in contemporary society has been approached from different angles. Ownby, for example, has analysed Falun Gong from a historical Chinese perspective as well as commented on his personal experience of meeting modern Falun Gong practitioners. Ownby has also speculated on Falun Gong as a cultural renewal of ancient Chinese cultivation forms starting in the Ming dynasty. Stephen Chan has written about Falun Gong's relationship to Buddhism and other qigong, as well as commenting on deeper reasons behind the persecution in Mainland China.

Outside mainland China

Activities bringing to focus the Human rights situation, in relation to its plight within the People's Republic of China (PRC) have increased dramatically since the PRC government began a nation wide clampdown on the practice in 1999. Falun Gong's lobbying against this suppression has helped to raise its profile in the United States, and to focus attention on China's human rights record. Falun Dafa practitioners and human rights activists in many major cities around the world have also organised protests, large-scale rallies, parades, and other events to draw attention to the plight of practitioners in China, and have found a willing ear in Western media.

The situation of Falun Gong and its practitioners has been regarded by some western governments as a major international human rights issue. The PRC government is accused by Falun Gong and many human rights groups of violating the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), also ratified by the People's Republic of China. In July 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives accused China of unlawful harassment of United States citizens and residents who practice Falun Gong, and passed a resolution, unanimously by 420:0 calling on China to "cease its persecution and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in the United States".

References

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Further reading

• Ian Adams, Riley Adams and Rocco Galati, Power of the Wheel: The Falun Gong Revolution (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing, 2000) hard cover ISBN 0-7737-3270-5
• Maria Hsia Chang, Falun Gong: The End of Days (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2004) ISBN 0-300-10227-5
• Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong (Law Wheel qigong) (Yih Chyun, 1993)
• Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun (Yih Chyun, 2000?)
• Danny Schechter, Falun Gong's Challenge to China (Akashic Books, 2000) hardback ISBN 1-888451-13-0, paperback ISBN 1-888451-27-0

External links

Falun Gong sites

• FalunDafa.org
• Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group

Critical sites

• Condemn Falun Gong Cult, series of anti-Falun Gong articles as part of the media campaign, in the state-run Xinhua
• Rick Ross Institute

Other sites

• Articles on the Falun Gong, Pulitzer Prize winner Ian Johnson, 2001, Wall Street Journal
• Falun Gong: Cult or Culture?, Produced by Chris Bullock, Radio National, April 22, 2001

• Falun Gong
• Human rights
• Meditation