Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bradeos Graphon (talk | contribs) at 19:48, 2 November 2005 (Reverted edits by Darkstar1st to last version by 211.30.122.85). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Falun Gong (法輪功 — literally Practice of the Wheel of Law) is a controversial Chinese spiritual movement which was introduced in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. Central to Falun Gong are five sets of exercises (four standing, and one sitting) that involve meditation and are said to help in the purification of the mind and the body. Many teachings are similar to those in Buddhism and Taoism — though it adds a conservative morality and several New Age and apocalyptic beliefs. Also known as Falun Dafa, the practice has grown swiftly in popularity around the world.

The government of the People's Republic of China began a nation-wide suppression of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. Concerns were triggered by how quickly practitioners gathered in large demonstrations, as well as reports that significant numbers of Chinese officials (including military and police personnel) were practicing the religion. The actual number of Falun Gong followers in China is a matter of dispute, but some figures place the number as high as 70 million — which would exceed the estimated membership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP has burned and destroyed books and other materials about Falun Gong, and blocked access to internet resources about the topic.

Treatment of Falun Gong members has been regarded in the West as a major international human rights issue affecting freedom of religion and freedom of speech. The Chinese government justifies its actions by denouncing the group as an "evil cult" that spreads superstition and discourages the use of medical treatment for serious illnesses. Critics of the government's stance point out the non-violent nature of the teachings, and that practitioners are free to enter or leave the group as they please. This distinguishes Falun Gong from many tightly controlled religious cults, though Li Hongzhi has been using increasingly radical language to describe himself and his mission.

Origins and Beliefs

Falun Gong (simplified Chinese: 法轮功; traditional Chinese: 法輪功; pinyin: Fǎlún Gōng; literally "Practice of the Wheel of Law") is also known as Falun Dafa (simplified Chinese: 法轮大法; traditional Chinese: 法輪大法; pinyin: Fǎlún dàfǎ; lit. "Great Law of the Wheel of Law"). It 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 approximately 70-100 million. 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 about 70 million practitioners.

Falun Gong professes a number of beliefs, some of which are similar to various schools and systems of belief such as Taoism, Christianity and especially Buddhism as well as other tenets unique to Falun Gong, including seemingly New Age and apocalyptic beliefs.

Core Beliefs

The three basic moral principles of Falun Gong are: Zhen 真, Shan 善 and Ren 忍, 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 idiosyncratically 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 qi (which means "breath") only suppresses or postpones illness. See also: qigong, kung fu, traditional Chinese medicine.

Purifying the Body

Central to Falun Gong are five sets of exercises (including meditation, four standing, and one sitting) 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 teach 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 states 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, according to Li's theories. This principle is referred to as upgrading xinxing or "heart nature".

Specifically, Falun Gong teaches a form of conservative morality. For example, the act of homosexuality is regarded as a sin. "The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time" states Volume II of Li Hongzhi's Zhuan Falun. The taking of any life is said to have negative consequences, and miscegenation seems to be discouraged by public statements of Li Hongzhi. In his lectures, Li Hongzhi also controversially suggests that different races bear the image of the gods that created them and that each race of people on earth have their own cosmic paradises, but that people of mixed race do not. However, elsewhere in Zhuan Falun it is stressed that all sinners and sentient beings should be treated with tolerance and compassion and that practitioners should not act in an extreme manner.

Other Beliefs

Like other spiritual practices and religions, some of the teachings of Falun Gong contain supernatural elements that disconcert individuals who require only strict scientific evidence for their belief systems. For example, in some of his published lectures, Li Hongzhi states that gods and demons exist, humans have a "celestial eye", that Earth has been influenced by extraterrestrials , and that the remains of unknown prehistoric civilizations can still be found.

In Li Hongzhi’s book, Zhuan Falun, he writes he can personally heal disease. However, Li also states repeatedly that he is not here to heal disease. When interviewed by Time magazine in May 1999 , Li declined to name his own teachers or to delineate the actual provenance of Falun Gong, though earlier text versions (mysteriously discontinued since the persecution) are said to clarify the issue. Furthermore, in 2002, Li claimed that after spreading Falun Gong for ten years, humanity's predestinations had changed, including a "comet catastrophe" and "the third world war."

Persecution

During the first years of the introduction of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi was granted several awards by Chinese governmental organizations 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.

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. The government had become especially concerned at reports that significant numbers of government officials as well as military and police personnel were practising Falun Gong. Another influence in the change in policy was the cultural memory of the 19th century Taiping Rebellion, when a religious cult had caused civil war.

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 , 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" reports about the persecution has confirmed that at least 2,676 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. It was claimed that 1404 people died in China as result of practising Falun Gong, mostly not seeking medicine for various illnesses . 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

The People's Republic of China (PRC), led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), became concerned by the ability of Falun Gong practitioners to gather in large demonstrations almost instantaneously, and on July 20, 1999, the government began a nation-wide suppression of Falun Gong, referring to the practice as an "evil cult" spreading superstition to deceive people. To be noted that at the time there were said to be 100,000 practitioners in Beijing alone. The former leader of the CCP, Jiang Zemin, condemned the group using the state controlled media, stating a position the Chinese government promotes to this day. The founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, has in the past denied that it is a religion or a cult, despite its using some language similar to Chinese Buddhism and Taoism. In recent years, however, Li has been using increasingly religious language to describe himself and his mission as well as the spiritual significance of Falun Gong. He claims that his practice of "Fa-rectification" encompasses the entire universe, purporting to include and go beyond all aspects of the Christian, Buddhist and Taoist religions . In distinction to many tightly controlled religious cults, Falun Dafa practitioners are free to enter or leave the group as they please.

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 are said to forbid any political involvement, and practitioners claim to have little interest in power or politics, the large number of political protests leading to the crackdown notwithstanding. However, Falun Gong's supporters, such as The Epoch Times, tend to be fiercely anti-communist and conservative, and Kangang Xu, a Falun Gong speaker, is the Chairman of the paper's board.

In China, the CCP has blocked access to certain sites on the internet (and previously blocked this article, see History of Misplaced Pages), blocked information by burning and destroying Falun Gong's books and materials.

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 .

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 13-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 13-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 a video called "False Fire", which deconstructs the incident in slow motion.

Many 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 August 1, 2005, 2,676 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.

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 to Singapore) to unconstitutional arrests (France) to persecution (China). Arrests in France took place after pressure from Chinese diplomats during Hu Jintao's (China's president) visit to France in 2004. The questionable arrests were later criticized by both French and European politicians.

Falun Dafa umbrella groups contend that the Chinese authorities spread disinformation in Western countries in order to portray Falun Gong in a bad light and to get the help of their governments in fighting it.

French Falun Gong, Tibetan Buddhist groups and other organisations regularly hold protests, sit-ins, distributions of leaflets, and other activities critical of the Chinese government. In 2004, the French Falun Gong association, asked president Jacques Chirac to convey a message to the Chinese authorities asking them to stop the repression of Falun Gong. Members of Falung Gong have filed criminal charges in France against some officials of the Chinese police apparatus.

24 Hour Continuous Protests

Falun Gong supporters in Vancouver, Canada continue to stage what they claim is the world's longest-running continuous protest against China's treatment of Falun Gong practitioners. The protest, which runs twenty-four hours a day, is located at the entrance to the Chinese Consulate on Granville Street. There is also a similar protest being staged in front of the Chinese Embassy in London, which has been continuous since June 5, 2002.

Falun Gong Presence in Major Metropolitan Areas

More recently, despite their stated disinterest in politics, Falun Gong practitioners have been seen on the streets in major metropolitan areas, directly informing the public of the persecution of their fellow practitioners in China (and worldwide according to some pamphlets). In many cities of Western countries (particularly the borough of Manhattan in New York City) several elaborate streetside demonstrations can be seen that portray graphic scenes of government brutality. Amidst these public displays are signs with simple slogans, such as "Falun Dafa is Good". and "Bring Jiang to Justice." It is not clear to some observers whether the demonstrations are meant to promote public awareness or motivate individuals to action. Falun Gong practitioners are seen suggesting individuals to sign petitions against the alleged crimes committed by the CCP, or just, "at least know" that "Falun Dafa is Good." Due to Falun Gong becoming a legitimate method to gain immigration visas, many would-be immigrants, including illegal immigrants, have attached themselves to the movement in the hope of gaining permanent residency in Western nations such as Australia, Canada, and the US.

References

• Li Hongzhi, Zhuan Falun: The Complete Teachings of Falun Gong (Yih Chyun, Fair Winds Press edition 2001) ISBN 1931412537
• Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong (Law Wheel Qigong) (Yih Chyun, 1993)
• Li Hongzhi, Essentials for Further Advancement (Yih Chyun, 2000?)
• Danny Schechter, Falun Gong's Challenge to China (Akashic Books, 2000) hardback ISBN 1888451130, paperback ISBN 1888451270

External links

• Falun Dafa official website
• Falun Dafa Information Center
• Falun Gong
• Falun Gong practitioner's video about the Chinese govt. persecution
• In Memory Memorial website for practitioners deaths while under persecution, updated with their stories
• Global Mission to Rescue Persecuted Falun Dafa Practitioners Includes a database of Falun Gong persecution cases in China. Searchable by Location, Victim, Criminal, Date.
• World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG)
• About the arrest and imprisonment of U.S. Citizen Charles Lee in China
• Friends of Falun Gong
• Series of 2001 Pulitzer Prize winning articles on the persecution of Falun Gong in China By Ian Johnson, Wall Street Journal
• Time Asia's article on Falun Gong (May 10, 1999)
• Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party from The Epoch Times
• Falun Gong Info: The True Nature of the Falun Gong by Samuel Luo, a Falun Gong critic.
• A 2003 speech by Li, singled out for its controversiality.
• Critical exposé from cult watchdog group
• Tsinghua University practitioners' views on science. Part 1 and part 2.

• New religious movements
• Meditation