What Falun
Gong Really Teaches
Ever
since the Chinese government in July 1999 banned Falun Gong,
it has gained support and sympathy from human rights groups.
By focusing just on its status as a victim of an oppressive
regime, the Falun Gong has also gained uncritical support from
the media. As a result of all the favorable media attention,
the Falun Gong has been able to spread throughout the U.S.,
not only in the Chinese community but in the non-Chinese community
as well. But what is the Falun Gong really about?
When
Falun Gong was introduced to my parents in early 1999 in San
Francisco, it was presented as an exercise that promised to
improve health. I can't describe how shocked I was when I heard
my mother start talking about the aliens who live among us and
saying that human society is bad, the end of world is coming,
and Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, is offering the last
chance to save mankind. How did an exercise become a world-saving
religion?
Since
immigrating to the United States in 1998, master Li has promoted
his Falun Gong as a Tai Chi like exercise. (1) However Falun
Gong (exercise of the Dharma wheel) is just the exercise component
of Falun Dafa (great truth of the Dharma wheel); both terms
refer to a unique system of belief and exercises which were
created by Li Hongzhi and first introduced in China in 1992.
The free Falun Gong exercises work as a lure to recruit people
into a system of belief, which Li has described as " the
highest principle of the universe". In fact, Li has made
it very clear to his followers that "As to those who only
do the exercise but do not study the Dafa they are not disciples
of Falun Dafa whatsoever." (2)
Li's
Falun Dafa is usually taught to newcomers after they feel comfortable
with the exercises. In it you learn that only Falun Gong practitioners
can grasp the essential moral principles of the universe (3),
the existence of mixed races is a serious problem (4), modern
science is destroying mankind (5), and homosexuality is not
the standard of being human. (6) In a 1998 Switzerland lecture,
Li went as far as saying that at the last judgment " the
priority of the Gods will be to eliminate homosexual people."
Yet to Li the worst thing that mankind can do is think negatively
towards his Dafa (great truth). "Let me tell you, when
this Fa-rectification (Li's judgment day) matter is over, humankind
will enter the next stage, and those people and beings who in
their minds think that the Great Fa of the cosmos isn't good
will be the first weeded out." (7) The enlightened master
also repeatedly warns his disciples that: "A Dafa disciple
who fails to achieve the effect of the safeguarding and upholding
Dafa has no way of reaching Consummation (Falun Dafa paradise)."
(8)
While
heavily borrowing Buddhist terms for his Dafa, Li portrays himself
as a supernatural being whose teachings are superior to those
of Sakyamuni (Buddha) and Jesus. (9) Although Li has continually
denied that Falun Gong is a religion, these denials are difficult
to reconcile with his repeated claims that he is providing the
only hope for mankind in this "Dharma-ending period".
(10) In Zhuan Falun, the Bible of the group, he states simply:
" If I can not save you, nobody else can do it." (11)
But when the press interviews Li, he tends to hide his importance.
In one interview he said: " Every time I see practitioners
I tell them sitting before you is just a normal person. Don't
make me into a god." (12) This statement totally contradicts
what he teaches his practitioners: "If you are a genuine
practitioner, our Falun (the law wheel Li installs in his practitioners'
abdomens) will safeguard you," he writes in Zhuan Falun.
" I am rooted in the universe. If anyone could harm you,
he would be able to harm me. To make it plainly, he would be
able to harm the universe." (13)
Oddly
enough, since the Chinese Government's crackdown of the group
in July 1999, Li has offered the least support of all to his
practitioners. (14) While he sends his practitioners to fight
the Chinese government, he is enjoying a safe and presumably
luxurious life in the United States. It's painful to see innocent
people putting themselves at risk and getting hurt while chasing
a delusion.
A group
leader claiming that he is the only one who knows the truth
of the universe or that he is the only savior of the world,
a group using deception to recruit new members and not allowing
room for questions or alternative viewpoints--these are some
of the characteristics of a cult. Cults also use mind control
techniques to manipulate their followers. This manipulation
is designed to disrupt a person's authentic identity and replace
it with a new identity. Individuals are deceptively and aggressively
recruited, and through socialization new members learn to follow
what other members do; slowly, they are influenced to think
as the others do. Dependence, conformity and obedience to the
leader's absolute authority are encouraged constantly. Looking
at Falun Gong from the outside, one might think these practitioners
have made their own choice. But would anyone join the Falun
Gong if they knew that they were going to be taught that Li
is the personal savior of the world? No, they all think that
they are just joining a healthy exercise group.
One
of the most important and common methods that cults use to control
their followers can be called "exclusion of the outside
world". Cult members are taught not to trust people outside
of the group, including family members. This component of mind
control is definitely found in the Falun Gong teachings. Falun
Gong practitioners are made to distrust the moral thinking of
non-practitioners who are called " ordinary people."
This is done intentionally by master Li, who repeatedly teaches:
"As a practitioner you cannot act according to the ordinary
people's standards." (15) This manipulation technique not
only isolates practitioners from non-practitioners, including
family members and friends, but also creates a system where
practitioners only share information with other practitioners.
As a result, practitioners mutually reinforce each other's belief
in the teachings, thereby eliminating any conflicting or alternative
views.
By reading Cults in Our Midst, written by the leading cult expert
Dr. Margaret Singer, I came to recognize that all these mind
control techniques have been used on my parents. Since the beginning
of 1999, they have practiced the exercises two hours a day,
and studied Li's books at least one hour everyday. They have
hung Li's portrait in our living room and their bedroom, and
have gotten rid of all the religion and exercise books except
those of the Falun Gong. After the crackdown of the group, my
mother not only donated money to the Falun Gong, but was also
asked by the organization to distribute flyers and other materials
on the streets and protest in front of the Chinese embassy.
I estimate that she spent nine hours a day, almost seven days
a week, doing Falun Gong related things until January 2002,
when her husband had a stroke. The Falun Gong has become her
life. This is also true for other devoted Falun Gong practitioners.
What
worries me the most is that ever since my parents became Falun
Gong practitioners they have abandoned seeking medical treatment
when needed. In Zhuan Falun, Li claims that his practitioners'
illnesses will be cured directly by him. (16) Since illness
and suffering are considered opportunities to repay the debt
of karma, seeking medical help denies a practitioner this opportunity.
He writes " taking medication during practice implies that
you do not believe in the disease curing effects of the practice.
If you believed in it, why would you take medication?"
(17) Due to this teaching my stepfather suffered unnecessarily
during previous attacks of gout and flu.
Worrying
about my parent's health and trying to protect them from this
cult, I started to question Li's teachings long before my stepfather's
stroke. In so doing, I sadly discovered how greatly their worldview
had changed. In stating their belief that Li has supernatural
power, that the world is coming to an end, that sickness is
caused by bad deeds, and that demons are everywhere, I realized
that they had been brain washed. Our discussion soon turned
into debate and then argument. To my shock my mother called
me evil.
After
our second argument I moved out. Living at home with my parents
had become painful and uneasy. It hurts me to see them hurting
themselves and I can't do a thing about it. I have even started
to feel anxiety, anger, and sadness.
When
my stepfather had the stroke in January, we were traveling in
China. He went without medical treatment for approximately five
days. While he was alone in the house two friends came to visit
him and offered to take him to the hospital. Although the right
side of his body was paralyzed he was able to open the door
for his friends. He could have gone to the hospital at that
time, but he refused due to his belief in Li's teachings. Days
later my sister returned home and found him sick. She had to
beg and cry for him to go to the hospital. When he finally got
to the hospital, the doctor pointed out that he could have died
if he hadn't been treated for another two days. He was in the
hospital for a month.
Today,
Falun Gong practitioners can be seen everywhere. They have set
up at least fifty permanent exercise sites throughout the bay
area, seven of them in San Francisco, one in front of City Hall.
Throughout the U.S., they have hundreds of practice sites, about
seventy web sites, radio shows, TV broadcasts and their own
newspaper. The Falun Gong group has become the fastest growing
quasi-religious cult in the U.S.
Beneath
Li's superficial teachings of "truthfulness, compassion
and forbearance" are teachings that are intolerant of dissent
and homophobic, that discourages sick people from seeking needed
medical treatment and that manipulate followers to blindly follow
Li's absolute authority. Unfortunately while the media has focused
only on the human rights issues in China, it has failed to educate
Americans about how deceptive and harmful the Falun Gong can
be in our own country.
Footnotes:
1. Li
Hongzhi, "Eye of the Storm" Interview in New York
Times Magazine (August 8, 1999), p.19. Excerpts from the interview:
Question:
Is Falun Gong a religion? Does it require faith?
Li:
It is a practice that can remove illnesses, keep people fit
and make one
live longer. Like tai chi, it's a morning exercise. People practicing
Falun
gong are expected to follow the principles of truthfulness,
compassion and
forebearance.
Question:
Falun Gong has been described as a cult. Is that description
fair?
Li:
A cult advocates end-of-the world theories and leads people
to do many bad
things. I am only teaching people the practice for healing and
fitness.
2. Li
Hongzhi, "What is Cultivation Practice?" (September
6, 1996) Essentials for
Further Advancement, English Version
3. See:
Zhuan Falun, 2nd edition, p. 27:
An
ordinary person cannot detect the existence of the characteristic
of Zhen-Shan-
Ren in the universe because all ordinary people are at the same
level. When you
reach beyond the level of ordinary people, you will be able
to detect its existence.
(Zhen-Shan-Ren is the sole Criterion to Judge Good and Bad People)
4. See:
Falun Dafa Lecture (Sydney, Australia), p.29
The
races in the world are not allowed to be mixed up. Now, the
races are mixed
up and it has brought about an extraordinarily serious problem
. . . Mixed races
have lost their roots, as if nobody in the paradise will take
care of them. They
belong to nowhere…
5. See:
"Interview with Li Hongzhi" Time Magazine Asia (May
10, 1999).
I know
that modern science is destroying mankind. Aliens have already
constructed a layer of cells in human beings. The development
of computers
dictates this layer of body cells to control human culture and
spirituality
and in the end to replace human beings.
6. See:
Falun Dafa Lecture (Sydney, Australia), p. 14.
7. Li
Hongzhi, Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in
North America
(December 9, 2000, Ann Arbor, Michigan). Falun Dafa web site
under "Guiding
the Voyage" (www. falundafa.org/eng/books.ht.), p.5.
8. Li
Hongzhi, "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples,"
Essentials for Further
Advancement II, Falun Dafa web site under "The Falun Dafa
Books/Other Writings of Mr. Lii Hongzhi" (www.falundafa.org/eng/books.htm),
item #40.
Actually,
consummation has different meanings in Li's teachings. It can
mean
enlightenment in this world as well as ascension beyond this
world to another
realm. As used here, it's the second meaning. In this teaching
Li goes on to tell
his disciples: "As you consummate your own paradises you
are, at the same
time, eliminating your last karma, gradually getting rid of
your human thoughts,
and truly stepping forward from humanness. . . .So this isn't
a matter of reaching
Consummation in ordinary realms, nor is it achievable in ordinary
Consummation."
In
item # 8 of Essentials for Further Advancement II, Li's idea
of consummation
seems to parallel the Christian idea of the rapture:
"When the day of Consummation arrives,
The great disclosure of the truth will leave the world in amazement."
9. Li
Hongzhi, Falun Dafa Lecture at the First Conference in North
America (March
29-30, 1998, New York City), Falun Dafa website under "Books
by the Master"
(www.falundafa.com.hk/eng/engdefault.htm), Internet Version,
March 2000,
p. 14.
The
full quote is: "In the past, many came to teach Fa, such
as Buddhas, the
Western God Jesus Christ, and even Jehovah. All of them gathered
people
together, fearing that otherwise people wouldn't study it well
or would drop
down. So people were assembled to practice cultivation together.
Sakyamuni
required his disciples to have their heads shaved and put on
kasayas. The
disciples of Jesus entered monasteries. I'm telling you that
the reason they did
that was because the Fa they preached was lesser. They couldn't
save people
without such requirements. In contrast, today we have such an
enormous Fa that
we certainly dare to open things up and leave everything to
you…"
10. Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, 2nd edition, p.101 and elsewhere.
The
full quote is: "I am the only person in the world who is
teaching orthodox Fa in public. I have done something nobody
did in the past and opened such a
large door in the Dharma-ending time."
11.
Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, 2nd edition, p. 317.
12.
J. S. Greenberg, "A 'Passive Recipient: Falun Gong Leader
Seems Modest - And in
Control" Special to ABCNEWS.com. (August 20, 1999), p.2.
13.
Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, p.44.
14.
Since the crackdown, Li has repeatedly warned his practitioners
that if they don't
do a good enough job in "standing up for the Dafa"
in China they may suffer
serious consequences. In Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes
Fa Conference in
North America (Ann Arbor, December 9, 200) he stated:
Most
students have, in various ways, stepped forward to validate
the Dafa . . .On
the other hand, those who haven't stepped forward, have hidden
themselves, and
have sided in their understanding with the evil beings - how
could they still be
Dafa disciples? . . . For example, some students were arrested
and imprisoned.
When they couldn't endure the sever torture, they wrote repentance
statements . . .
But this is unacceptable.
In
addition to risking the loss of all hope for Falun Gong paradise,
practitioners
have actually been threatened with the possibility of losing
their lives for violating
(plagiarizing) Li's divine teachings. In "Dafa Can Never
be Plagiarized"
Essentials for Further Advancement I (September 22, 1996) Li
warned that
"Once you are reduced to the level of an everyday person,
no one will protect you
and demons will also take your life."
15.
Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun (English Version) 2nd Edition (Hong
Kong: April,
1998), Lecture Four, p. 165.
16.
Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun, English Version, second edition (Hong
Kong: Falun
Fo Publishing Company, 1998), p. 126. The full quote is: "Your
illnesses will be cured directly by me. Those who practice at
the exercise
sites will have my Fashen to cure their illnesses."
17.
Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong, English Version, revised edition, Falun
Dafa
website under "Books by the Master"
www.falundafa.com.hk/eng/engdefault.htm), p. 82.
