Wikipedia English: Falun Gong Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a spiritual practice founded in China by Li Hongzhi （李洪志） in 1992. [1] It has five sets of meditation exercises and seeks to develop practitioners' hearts and character according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (真，善，忍）, articulated in the main books Falun Gong （法輪功） and Zhuan Falun （轉法輪）. [2][3]) The teachings deal with issues such as "cultivation of virtue and character", "moral standards for different levels", and "salvation of all sentient beings." The books, lectures, and exercise materials have been translated into over 40 languages and are available on the Internet free of charge.
According to Professor David Ownby, Falun Gong emerged at the end of China's "qigong boom", and understands itself in terms of a centuries-old tradition of "cultivation practice" (修煉 xiūliàn ). [1][4] Sinologist Barend ter Haar regards it as a distinctly new form of Chinese religious movement shaped by the Maoist revolution. [5] Another sinologist, Benjamin Penny, says that while Falun Gong is a " qigong cultivation system,"[6] the heavy emphasis on morality makes it appear to be a religion. [7] Penny regards Falun Gong as one of the most important phenomena to emerge in China in the 1990s. [6] The Encyclopedia Britannica characterises Falun Gong as "controversial. "[8] In April 1999 over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners, at Chinese Communist Party headquarters, Zhongnanhai, silently protested beatings and arrests in Tianjin. [9][10][11] Two months later the Chinese government, led by Jiang Zemin, "banned" the practice and began a crackdown and "massive propaganda campaign. "[12][13] Since 1999, reports of torture,[14] illegal imprisonment,[15] beatings, forced labour, and psychiatric abuses have been widespread. 66% of all reported torture cases in China concern Falun Gong practitioners, who are also estimated to comprise at least half of China's labour camp population, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, and the US Department of State respectively. [16][17][18] In 2006, two high-profile Canadian lawyers published an investigative report concluding that since 1999, the Chinese authorities have systematically executed Falun Gong practitioners to harvest their organs for the burgeoning transplant trade. [19] As Falun Gong has no membership or rosters, the number of practitioners is unknown. In 1998, the Chinese government published a figure of 70 million practitioners in China. [20] Clearwisdom.net, a Falun Gong website, claims 100 million practitioners in more than 80 countries. [21] [edit] Beliefs and teachings Falun Gong was introduced to the public by Li Hongzhi (李洪志) in Changchun, China, in 1992. Its teachings cover spiritual, religious, mystical, and metaphysical topics. Falun Gong is an introductory book that discusses qigong, introduces the principles and provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises.
The main body of teachings is articulated in the core book Zhuan Falun (轉法輪)[22], published in late 1994. According to the texts, Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) is a complete system of mind-body "cultivation practice" (修煉). [23] Truthfulness (真 Zhen ), Compassion (善 Shan ), Forbearance (忍 Ren ) is regarded as the fundamental characteristic of the cosmos—an omnipresent nature that permeates and encompasses everything from the most minuscule particles to the most gigantic cosmic bodies. In the process of cultivation, the practitioner is supposed to assimilate himself or herself to these qualities by letting go of attachments and notions, thus returning to the "original, true self." In Zhuan Falun , Li Hongzhi says, "As a practitioner, if you assimilate yourself to this characteristic, you are one that has attained the Tao—it's just such a simple principle." The content of Li Hongzhi's books includes commentaries on questions discussed in China's qigong community for ages. According to David Ownby, Li saw the qigong movement as "rife with false teachings and greedy and fraudulent 'masters'" and set out to rectify it. Li understood himself and Falun Gong as part of a "centuries-old tradition of cultivation," and in his texts would often attack those who taught "incorrect, deviant, or heterodox ways. "[4] Qigong scholar David Palmer says Li "redefined his method as having entirely different objectives from qigong: the purpose of practice should neither be physical health nor the development of Extraordinary Powers, but to purify one's heart and attain spiritual salvation... Falun Gong no longer presented itself as a qigong method but as the Great Law or Dharma ( Fa ) of the universe."[24]. Falun Gong draws on oriental mysticism and traditional Chinese medicine, criticizes self-imposed limits of modern science, and views traditional Chinese science as an entirely different, yet equally valid knowledge system. Concomitantly, says Yuezhi Zhao, professor in the University of California, it borrows the language of modern science in representing its cosmic laws. "Falun gong is not conceptualized as a religious faith; on the contrary, its practitioners, which include doctorate holders from prestigious American universities, see it as 'a new form of science. '"[25] In a seminar paper presented at the annual meeting of American Sociological Association, Kai-Ti Chou states: "Li [...] does not deny the existence of mystery, which just exists in another realm, he claims. He does not want his followers to think about this limitedly with scientific thinking and thus close any possibility to view other possibilities. On the contrary, he encourages a radical rational and open way of thinking; namely, [going] beyond the common scientific logic, which can not only help them to know the scientific world but also a world beyond science. Therefore, for Li or most cultivators, the most important thing does not lie in whether or not one can see or experience something mysterious but how one can let it be and will not be influenced by it. "[26] Leading Falun Gong scholar David Ownby sees Falun Gong as first and foremost "concerned with moral purpose and the ultimate meaning of life and death. "[27] Falun Gong understands itself as "profoundly moral," according to Ownby, where "the very structure of the universe, according to Li Hongzhi, is made up of the moral qualities cultivators are enjoined to practice in their own lives: truth, compassion and forbearance. The goal of cultivation, and hence of life itself, is spiritual elevation, achieved by eliminating karma—the built-up sins of past and present lives which often manifest themselves in individuals as illness—and accumulating virtue. "[4] Through cultivation, Falun Gong promises "personal harmony with the very substance of the universe." Ownby says that Li's teachings do not focus on "lists of dos and don'ts or 'sophisticated ethical discussions.'" Falun Gong teaches instead that followers should "rid themselves of unnecessary ‘attachments', to do what they know is right and hence to return to ‘the origin', to their ‘original self. '"[4] Falun Gong echoes traditional Chinese beliefs that humans are connected to the universe through mind and body, according to Danny Schechter. [28] Li challenges "conventional mentalities", and sets out to unveil myths of the universe, time-space, and the human body. The opening statement of Zhuan Falun includes the phrase "If human beings are able to take a fresh look at themselves as well as the universe and change their rigid mentalities, humankind will make a leap forward." Li says that raising one's xinxing (mind or heart nature, moral character)[29] is fundamental to cultivating oneself. Improving xinxing means relinquishing human attachments, which prevent people from awakening. The term attachments refer to: jealousy, competitiveness, fame, showing off, pursuit of material gain, anger, lust, etc.. In Zhuan Falun , he states "You must eliminate all ill thoughts among everyday people—only then can you move up. "[30] [edit] Theoretical background A group of people practicing Falun Gong (in central Gothenburg, Sweden) Qigong (or ch'i kung ) refers to a wide variety of traditional "cultivation" practices that involve movement and/or regulated breathing designed to be therapeutic. Qigong is practiced for health maintenance purposes, as a therapeutic intervention, as a medical profession, a spiritual path, or a component of Chinese martial arts.
According to Xu Jian, writing for the Journal of Asian Studies, the discourses on qigong theory broadly divide into "naturalist" and "supernaturalist" schools. The "naturalist" discourse involves scientific research on qigong and seeks to understand it within a modern, empirical, paradigmatic framework, while the "supernaturalist" discourse is situated within a revival of nationalistic traditional beliefs and values, and conceives qigong as psychosomatic and metaphysical. Xu says, "this discursive struggle has articulated itself as an intellectual debate and enlisted on both sides a host of well-known writers and scientists — so much so that a veritable corpus of literature on qigong resulted. [...] Each [discourse] 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. "[31] 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. "[31] 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. [31] David Aikman says 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. He contends that 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. "[32] 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. Francesco Sisci says that Falun Gong "re-elaborated old, well-known Taoist and Buddhist routines, used the old vocabulary that people found familiar, and revamped them in a simple, persuasive way. "[33]
