Falun Gong (; literally "Practice of the Wheel of Law") or Falun Dafa (Traditional Chinese: 法輪大法; Simplified Chinese: 法轮大法; pinyin: Fǎlún dàfǎ; lit. "Great Law of the Wheel of Law") is a Chinese spiritual practice, with beliefs similar to those found in Buddhism and Taoism, purporting to improve the mind, body, and spirit. The actual number of Falun Gong followers is a matter of dispute: Falun Gong itself claims to have over 100 million , including 70 million inside China; current official Chinese estimates put the number at about ten million, while, prior to the onset of the persecution, surveys pointed to 70 million practitioners.
The People's Republic of China(PRC), led by the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), became concerned by instances where Falun Gong practitioners gathered in large numbers almost instantaneously, and referred to the practice as an "evil cult" spreading superstition to deceive people. Whether Falun Gong is a beneficial spiritual practice or a manipulative cult has been the subject of much debate. The former leader of the CCP, Jiang Zemin, used his power to condemn the group using the state controlled media. It should be noted, however, that Falun Gong has always denied itself being a religion or a cult, despite having some principles similar to the cores of Buddhism and Taoism. The basis for the denial comes directly from Falun Gong's teachings, in that the practice encompasses the entire universe, including and beyond the Buddhist and Taoist schools.
Since the persecution of the practice in China, the CCP claims that the practice has deviated its focus from engaging in spiritual cultivation to engaging in politics, basing their opinions on the existence of numerous websites disparate from, yet in support of, Falun Gong (such as Friends of Falun Gong). It is important to note that, due to an implication derived from its core principles, the teachings of Falun Gong discourage political involvement.
Origins and Beliefs
People practicing Falun Gong exercises outside of Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario
Falun Dafa was introduced to the general public in 1992 by Li Hongzhi (now residing in Brooklyn, New York), and grew very swiftly in popularity not only in China but worldwide. It was popularized widely under the CCP's supervision for seven years. An estimate of the CCP presented in 1998 on the public television (state owned) in Shanghai mentioned that in mainland China alone the number of practitioners were approx. 70-100 million.
Falun Gong contains a number of beliefs, some of which are similar to various schools and systems of belief such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity, and others being unique to Falun Gong.
Core Beliefs
The three basic moral principles of Falun Gong are: Zhen, Shan and Ren, which translate approximately as 'Truthfulness, Benevolence or Compassion, and Forbearance or Tolerance'. It is through focusing on these qualities that Falun Gong practitioners say they develop what they call their xinxing (moral character) which then purportedly gives the potential to develop high levels of 功, gōng, (which Falun Gong practitioners use to mean "high level energy," in Mandarin Chinese gōng means "merit" or "achievement" and by extension it is part of compound terms describing a disciplined regimen). Practitioners of Falun Gong claim that gōng possesses healing properties and that 氣 qì (which means "breath") only suppresses or postpones illness. See also: qigong, kung fu, alternative medicine.
Purifying the Body
Central to Falun Gong are five sets of exercises (including meditation) that are said to help in the purification of the mind and the body. Falun Gong practitioners believe that illnesses are the result of karma (similar to black or bad karma in other systems), and are taught that the practice of these exercises will cleanse the body and eliminate the karma, thereby improving health. In Li Hongzhi's composition of nine lectures that he originally gave throughout China, Zhuan Falun, Li states that he can personally eliminate karma; however, he also repeatedly asserts that his purpose is not to cure diseases. All Falun Gong exercises are taught free of charge by Falun Gong practitioners and are detailed in Li's books, which may also be found free of charge on their websites (such as http://www.falundafa.org).
In Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi states that a Falun resides in the abdomen of all true practitioners of Falun Gong. Falun means "Wheel of Law" in the Chinese language, which can be translated as a Dharma wheel or a Chakra; to Falun Gong practitioners, the Falun is specifically a wheel consisting of five srivatsas and four taijitu, as illustrated on the top right-hand corner of this page. The Falun is said to be a miniature of the universe, and once it is installed into the abdomen, it turns continuously. When the Falun turns clockwise, it absorbs energy from the universe into the body; when it turns counter-clockwise it eliminates waste from the body. Some of Falun Gong practitioners believe they can see this Falun rotating in their abdomens, provided their "celestial eye" (said to be associated with the pineal body) is open.
Morality
Li teaches that the five exercises and the Falun are not sufficient to ensure a person's physical, mental and spiritual well-being; only by living a morally upright life according to the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance" can a Falun Gong practitioner be said to experience increased vitality, health, and peace of mind.
Specifically, Falun Gong teaches a form of conservative morality. The act of homosexuality is regarded as a sin, and the taking of any life is forbidden (although Falun Gong does not explicitly require its practitioners to become vegetarians). Some feel that miscegenation is discouraged in Falun Gong because of a belief that heavens are segregated on racial lines; however this is probably a misunderstanding of Li Hongzhi's discussions of how the different races of humans were each created by gods who looked similar to their creations. Some observers believe that Falun Gong has gained such popularity because it fills a void of morality within the increasingly materialistic Chinese society.
Other Beliefs
Li states that gods and demons exist, that Earth has been influenced by extraterrestrials, and that the remains of unknown prehistoric civilizations can still be found. When interviewed by Time magazine in May 1999, Li declined to name his own teachers or to delineate the actual provenance of Falun Gong when asked directly, though earlier text versions (mysteriously discontinued since the persecution) are said to clarify the issue.
Persecution
During the first years of the introduction of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi was granted several awards by Chinese governmental organisations to encourage him to continue promoting what was then considered a wholesome practice. From 1992 to 1994 he lectured regularly all over the country in important Chinese cities before large audiences. The practice was then further spread widely in mainland China for 7 years mainly by word of mouth and through the internet.
Arrest of People practicing the 5th. exercise in China
In July 1999 the government decided to put a stop to its popularity and the practice of Falun Gong has been persecuted in mainland China ever since. On June 10, 1999, the government established the "6-10" office, an extra-constitutional body, to facilitate the crackdown. Most political analysts believe that this was the direct result of events that occurred in April 1999. In Tianjin, as a result of a critical article in a local paper written by a member of the Chinese Academy of Science, about a thousand Falun Gong practitioners went to the newspaper office asking for rectification. Some practitioners were arrested and were, according to reports, beaten by the police. Several days later, for 12 hours on April 25, about 10,000 people gathered at the Central Appeal Office at Foyou street, outside Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of Chinese Communist Government and lined up along a 2 km stretch. They held no signs and chanted no slogans. Premier Zhu Rongji met with some representatives of the practitioners and promised to resolve the situation within three days. Despite the fact that the practitioners dispersed peacefully after they received word that Zhu Rongji had agreed to their requests, it was widely reported by the Chinese media that Li's ability to allegedly organize a protest in the heart of the Chinese Communist Party is said to have alarmed many senior leaders, particularly Jiang Zemin.
As CNN's Willy Lam reported a Communist Party veteran providing his analysis: "By unleashing a Mao-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line. This will boost Jiang's authority-and may give him enough momentum to enable him to dictate events at the pivotal 16th Communist Party congress next year."
The Falun Dafa Information Center, a website which "endeavors to compile, cross-check, organize and publish" [1] reports about the persecution has confirmed that at least 1,735 deaths have occurred while practitioners have been in police or government custody.
Other factors may include the claim that the number of Falun Gong practitioners (100 million worldwide, including 70 million inside China, according to Falun Gong sources) is larger than membership of the Communist Party of China (about 60 million people). Others claim that there were practitioners amongst high officials of the government and that several high ranking army officers had embraced the practice as well and that this was a cause of grave concern for others in power.
To justify the oppression, the CCP claimed that Falun Gong is an evil cult . There are many reports allegedly claiming that some believers hurt or kill themselves after reading the books by Li Hongzhi, however none have been verified by independent parties. Some scientists in China claim that there is no scientific evidence to show Falun Gong is beneficial for health. A frequent argument made by Chinese scientists is that followers avoid, by practice, most conventional medicine.
The Media War
In China, the CCP has blocked access to the internet, blocked information by burning and destroying Falun Gong's books and materials, and has therefore left the public susceptible to the systematic propaganda of China's state-run media. The general public of the PRC is unaware that the oppression against Falun Gong is violent, as it is not covered in State Controlled media reports.
On the other hand, there have been incidents in which China's state-owned television networks were jammed with reports on the persecution of Falun Gong. In addition, a syndicated Chinese language newspaper with worldwide circulation, The Epoch Times (English)(Chinese), is accused of having a pro-Falun Gong platform, partly because it has published articles suggesting a declining state in the CCP. These articles include Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party (jiuping)"", Withdrawals From CCP Surpass 700,000"" and others [2].
According to WOIPFG reports, eight Falun Gong practitioners were arrested after one of the jamming incidents in Changchun city, including Liu Chengjun, who was allegedly tortured to death after 21 months incarceration in Jilin Prison.
The Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation Incident
The campaign of government criticism begun in 1999 was considered by most observers to be largely ineffectual until January 2001, when persons whom the government claimed were Falun Gong practitioners, among them a thirteen-year old child, allegedly doused themselves with gasoline and set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. Gruesome videos of the incident were widely broadcast on Chinese state television, as were interviews with the thirteen-year old who was horribly burned and whose mother did not survive the incident.
Falun Gong practitioners strongly denied that the persons could have been actual Falun Gong practitioners, since killing, especially in the form of suicide, is strictly forbidden by the principles of Falun Gong. In addition, some people have suggested that the incident was either a hoax or staged, pointing out several strange inconsistencies that are present on the video footage of the incident broadcasted by State-run Xinhua News Agency. Among them are the fact that one of the burn victims appears to be wearing protective clothing, has unburnt hair, and the green plastic bottle that supposedly carried the gasoline was not even burned. Independent, third-party investigations continue to be denied by the PRC government. Supporters of Falun Gong have created an award-winning video called "False Fire", which deconstructs the incident in slow motion. ([3])
Observers believe that the propagandized incident helped turn public opinion in China against the group and has had the effect of helping the government justify the persecution.
Foreign Views on Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded in the West as a major international human rights issue. In 2000, Ian Johnson of the Wall Street Journal investigated the reports of abuse, and published a series of investigative articles that won him the Pulitzer Prize the following year. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center (FDI), there are, as of April 18,2005, 1,735 verified cases of death of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China, from allegations of torture and police brutality. The report also states that hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, with more than 100,000 sentenced to forced-labor camps. Moreover, there are more than 30,000 documented cases of persecution. The CCP does not deny detaining Falun Gong practitioners, but insists that they died from hunger strikes and refusals to seek medical treatments.
Arrest of Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing
As of January, 2004, 16 lawsuits in 12 countries have been filed around the world charging the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin and several other senior officials with genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity, for their roles in the persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China. (See, however, a discussion on universal jurisdiction.) In at least one case (in Belgium) the lawsuit did not proceed further.
The Christian churches' reactions to Falun Gong are mixed. Some churches have remained silent over the issue, partly because certain Christian groups are also being persecuted in China; indeed the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong is openly sympathetic to Falun Gong. Other churches, however, have accused Falun Gong of being a New Age-like occult group, and of misrepresenting the teachings of Christianity.
The practice of Falun Gong is currently present in more than 60 countries across the world; government reactions range from open acceptance (United States) to tolerance (Australia) to suspicion (Japan and Singapore) to unconstitutional arrests (France).
References
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