The swastika is a common Buddhist symbol for Falun Gu'n (Traditional Chinese 法輪功, Simplified 法轮功, pinyin Fǎlún Gōng, lit. meaning Wheel of Law practice) or Falun Dafa' (Traditional Chinese 法輪大法, Simplified 法轮大法 , pinyin Fǎlún dàfǎ, lit. means "Great Law of the Wheel of the Law") - a Chinese organization, the adherents of which call it the "school of self-cultivation of the soul and life", which became widely known in the early 1990s in China. Falun Gong is said to teach meditation techniques through exercises to improve physical health as well as moral and spiritual purity. Falun Gong is also referred to as Falun Dafa ("Great Falun Law"). The school has millions of followers in almost all countries.
Falun Gong followers claim that they strive to follow truth, kindness, and forbearance in their daily lives.
Critics of the Falun Gong teachings believe that hatred is preached to any individual or organization that criticizes the leader - Li Hongzhi, as well as the rejection of medical care and taking pharmaceuticals, which allegedly led to countless cases of death and spiritual insanity of followers. In critical literature, the organization is called a sect.
Founder of Falun Gong
The founder of Falun Gong is Li Hongzhi. In 1992, he introduced Falun Gong at the Beijing Oriental Health Expo. In 1993, Falun Gong also participated in this exhibition, where he was awarded the top three awards. At the same time, this method of practice in China began to be called Golden Falun Gong - for its effectiveness in terms of healing the body. Soon the way of practicing Falun Gong became popular throughout China. Li Hongzhi graduated from the main textbook of the teaching system, Zhuan Falun, in 1994. In addition to describing the principles of Falun Gong, the book touched upon the topics of development, the meaning of place and time, and the mysteries of the universe.
Falun Gong Practitioners Demonstrate the ExercisesFalun Gong practitioners do exercises designed to promote health outdoors. The principles of this method of practice are fully described in Zhuan Falun and other books, as well as on video and audio cassettes, as well as websites.
Suppression of Falun Gong Activities in the PRC
In 1999, the Chinese government took away Falun Gong's legal status and legal protection and banned its publication. In 1996, Li left China to give Falun Gong lectures in Europe, Asia, and Australia. In 1998 he moved to New York. Falun Gong practitioners in China have been persecuted by the police at the behest of "above". On April 25, 1999, approximately 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners held an all-day peaceful demonstration outside the Central Appeals Office.
The government responded on July 22, 1999 with a total ban on Falun Gong in China. It also tried to issue an international arrest warrant for Li Hongzhi on charges of developing a "sinister cult" that spreads prejudice in order to deceive people. As a matter of political judgment, the warrant was not taken into account by the United States government and the international police organization Interpol. Falun Gong followers around the world, on their own initiative, explain the truth about the Chinese Communist Party's brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Falun Gong practitioners themselves claim that this teaching is not a religion or a cult, and has nothing to do with politics. They say that followers should not leave material possessions, work, or family life. The goal of the practice is to gradually get rid of selfish desires.
Falun Gong
The Falun Gong (Wheel of Law) movement was founded by retired military officer Li Hongzhi in 1992. It combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and the classical healing practice of qigong.
The movement gained immense popularity. According to some data, up to 70 million people participated in it in China. Chinese immigrants to the United States were also fascinated by the new doctrine. It is believed that their number is about 8 million.
The Chinese authorities were frightened by such an unusual popularity of the religious movement and began to fight with him. Falun Gong leaders have taken thousands of their own followers to Tiananmen Square in Beijing demanding official recognition of the movement. But this demonstration of a significant number of adherents backfired. The movement was banned in July 1999.
Video: Falun Dafa Falun Gong Qigong Exercises
Since then, its activists have occasionally held public protests, but their participants have been arrested. In late 2000, several alleged Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square. But the management of the organization considered this the result of a police provocation and refused to admit that the dead belonged to the movement.
Favorites of "Falun Gong" have repeatedly emphasized that it is not a religion, but a spiritual practice. Li Hongzhi, for example, states that members of the movement can belong to any religion. In this, he is similar to neo-Hindu gurus who say that the practice of Indian yoga is compatible not only with Hinduism, but also with other religions. But the syncretic teaching that frames the practice of Falun Gong contains Buddhist and Taoist postulates.
The movement has no fixed membership and no clergy. Its participants emphasize that they are not so much an organization as a group of like-minded people united on a volunteer basis. This frightened the Chinese authorities, who do not like amateur performances, especially in the sphere of religion.
When Falun Gong books became bestsellers in 1996, they were banned; when the state media estimated that 70 million people practiced Falun Gong, which was more than the number of members of the Chinese Communist Party, at that time, the media was flooded with falsehoods about Falun Gong, and the state security organs began to spy on the practitioner and oppress them in every possible way.
It is in response to these violations by the authorities of the Constitution of their country that practitioners gathered in Beijing in April 1999.
A Washington Post article published in 1999 stated that “Jiang single-handedly decided that Falun Gong 'should be eradicated'” (article in English). Journalists and insiders noted Jiang's "envy" of Falun Gong and his obsession with "destroying" the practice.
China analyst Willy Lam believes that by organizing a nationwide campaign, Jiang wanted to "tune" power for himself, while at the same time destroying a group he considered a threat to his power.
In addition, the difference between the ideology of the atheistic Communist Party and the ideology of the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, which is based on the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, played a role.
Finally, as noted in the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, the persecution of Falun Gong is the latest in a series of brutal campaigns used by the Party to remind the public that the people are under its vigilant control.
Mao Zedong once said that China should have a cultural revolution every seven or eight years. Indeed, since 1950, not a decade has passed without the state conducting some brutal campaign to suppress the masses. From the suppression of counter-revolutionaries, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the brutal suppression, to the persecution of Falun Gong, between 60 million and 80 million Chinese citizens have been killed by the party.
- The Chinese Communist Party is not stupid - it is unlikely that they would kill innocent people like that?
Hitler is not stupid - but he killed 6 million Jews. Why did the Khmer Rouge kill one out of every four Cambodians? If Tibetan monks only want to worship and meditate piously, why are they still being tortured and killed in Chinese gulags? If teenage girls in Darfur did nothing wrong, why were they raped? Mladic was not a fool, why did he want to kill all the Muslim men in Srebrenica?
One can look at things from the point of view of criminals and thus understand their economic and political motivations behind the massacres. However, we believe that to some extent there is evil here, with which it is difficult to agree - how can such things be done to a person?
On the other hand, so many Chinese people are either taking part in this campaign or have turned a blind eye to it, precisely because they intuitively know what evil the Communist Party can do. After carrying out public executions, organizing, cannibalism, and massacres—altogether between 60 million and 80 million of these people's relatives died during the CCP's rule—the evils committed against Falun Gong were all too well known.
- If Falun Gong is good, why was it banned? Why don't other groups do this?
First, many other groups have also been banned and persecuted. Christians who refuse to attend party-controlled churches, Tibetan Buddhists, and of course Democrats and other human rights activists are all persecuted in China, in some cases for decades. There are also qigong styles that are banned, and you will no longer see their followers doing the exercises in the parks of China.
No need to look for those who are persecuted more than others. Egregious abuses are being committed against these groups, which is a tragedy for countless relatives of these people. Moreover, the aggressor against these groups is one and the same person.
When asked how the persecution of Falun Gong is different from the persecution of other groups at present, the answer is that the difference is as follows:
In terms of the number of followers, Falun Gong was the largest group in society outside of the Communist Party. According to the calculations of the Chinese government itself in the late 90s. at least 70 million people practiced this practice, reflecting the vast number of people affected by the persecution. The US State Department notes that Falun Gong practitioners reportedly make up about half of all inmates in China's forced labor camps. Based on the reports of survivors in these camps, it can be concluded that in some cases, about 90% of the prisoners are Falun Gong practitioners. In the winter of 2007, a huge number of additional Falun Gong practitioners were placed in the new cells.
Jiang Zemin and the Communist Party launched an extensive campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. During the early period of persecution, the Chinese generally reacted to this campaign as Maoist, evocative, and which they considered to be a thing of the past. In this regard, Falun Gong, like the groups during the Cultural Revolution, has become a target of repression: practitioners and followers are attacked by intense propaganda, house-to-house searches are carried out for followers, they are beaten, publicly condemned, tortured for which no one is responsible. Like many groups in the 1960s, Falun Gong has been the target of financial ruin and massive exile to labor camps for its adherents, a process that is systematic and on a scale not seen since Mao's death in 1976.
- How did the persecution start?
The persecution was officially launched at 3:00 pm on July 22, 1999, when China Central Television (CCTV) started broadcasting programs about the new ban with anti-Falun Gong propaganda. Falun Gong followers who were on their way to petition the government to defend the practice at the time were seized, put on buses, and detained in stadiums and conference halls. This was immediately followed by the burning of Falun Gong books and show trials.
Two days before the nationwide persecution was announced, the Falun Gong coordinators, who were considered to be in charge, were arrested at home at night.
More than a month before the start of the persecution, on June 10, Jiang Zemin set up the 610 Office to eradicate Falun Gong. Two months earlier, about 20 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and beaten because they held a peaceful protest in the form of sitting meditation in front of the publishing house of a magazine that slandered Falun Gong. This arrest led to a famous event at the walls of Zhongnanhai, when thousands of practitioners gathered there. During 1998, Falun Gong practitioners meditating in the parks were closely monitored by the security forces and were also interrogated.
The beginning of the persecution can be seen as early as 1996, when the first article critical of Falun Gong appeared in the Chinese newspaper Guangming Daily, initiating attacks on Falun Gong in the state media.
Didn't Falun Gong followers surround Zhongnanhai? Didn't this provoke the Chinese government?
On April 25, 1999, about 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside the Zhongnanhai Government House in Beijing. This meeting was legal, and the people gathered intended to apply to the nearby State Bureau of Appeals, and not to the government house.
The right to appeal for abuses committed in China is guaranteed by the Constitution. In fact, on the eve of these events, authorities in the city of Tianjin near Beijing (where Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and beaten) advised Falun Gong practitioners to file a petition directly in Beijing.
Practitioners gathered in response to the ongoing persecution by the state. In this case, it was the result of a 3-year media attack on Falun Gong, the beating of 45 Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin City, and the banning of Falun Gong books.
This gathering of people was completely peaceful. Also, not a single passage or passage was blocked, the movement was free.
In fact, this could lead to a completely different result. On that day, Zhu Rongji, then prime minister, met with Falun Gong representatives and promised to solve their problems. The practitioners who were detained in Tianjin were released. However, after a few hours, when everyone had already dispersed, Jiang Zemin intervened and completely changed the policy. He accused the practitioners of keeping Zhongnanhai under "siege" and stated that if Falun Gong was not eradicated, it would be a disgrace to the party and show its weakness.
- Does it look like Falun Gong has changed its nature and is now highly politicized?
First, despite the fact that Falun Gong followers protest, file lawsuits against Chinese officials, and convince the Chinese to leave the Communist Party, they remain uninterested in gaining power.
The founder of Falun Gong and practitioners in and outside of China constantly make it clear that they do not want to seize power, they only want to stop the persecution. Many years have passed and the CCP has not changed its policy of genocide against Falun Gong, so the only seemingly possible way to stop the persecution is to destroy the CCP.
Secondly, such activities by Falun Gong followers were not carried out in any form before the persecution began. All that Falun Gong practitioners did before the suppression began was to meditate and read Falun Gong literature in a group or at home and introduce others to the practice.
Lastly, even if Falun Gong were involved in politics, what's wrong with that? In any free society, this clearly cannot be grounds for persecution. Only in a state with an authoritarian regime of the Communist Party, a regime that does not tolerate any ideology different from it, is it considered a crime to engage in politics.
- What form does the persecution take?
In China, the Communist Party uses every means available to intimidate and pressure people into giving up their faith. Falun Gong followers are denied education, fired from their jobs, deprived of custody of their children; they are publicly insulted, kidnapped and sexually abused in police stations. Those who expose the abuse they suffered while in custody are sent to prison for "disclosing state secrets".
All practitioners are denied defense lawyers, and some are sentenced to up to 18 years in prison just for their beliefs. Hundreds of thousands were reportedly sent to forced labor camps (Chinese Gulag system) without trial or investigation. Many healthy normal people were sent to psychiatric hospitals, where they were forcibly injected with drugs that destroy the nervous system.
At present, the Center has confirmed 3,415 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners as a result of persecution (it is believed that there are many more); hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are imprisoned in prisons and forced labor camps. Independent experts also confirmed the fact for sale from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners.
"Meet Falun Gong" caught my eye the headline of a newspaper handed to me by a man on the street. And under the headline is a photograph of a woman doing a physical exercise with her arms raised and her eyes closed. Curiosity and interest in the new immediately made me familiarize myself with the issued brochure. It turns out that Falun Gong is a system of physical and spiritual improvement of a person.
Several materials inform the townspeople that Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) is a mind and body cultivation practice, a form of qigong (an ancient Chinese system aimed at healing the body and mind), previously handed down from Master to a single successor, but later adapted by Master Li Hongzhi for general transmission. in society in 1992.
- A little personal question: how did you come to this system?
I was introduced to Falun Dafa by reading a practitioner's internet blog where he mentioned the practice. Somehow I didn’t come to this system on purpose, it seems to me that I have been going to something like this all my life, but in fact it turns out that I was going to this particular practice: I have been practicing since 2011. Why Falun Dafa? Probably because at the first acquaintance (and later this did not change) with the practice and what is set forth in it, I clearly realized that everything that I always vaguely guessed about is true, and it is stated very clearly and universal, modern and clear language, without circumlocution and understatement. In addition, it is completely ready for use and application in practical improvement by any person who really wants it. He will want to truly increase his spiritual level, in the very depths of his heart.
- Falun Gong is the practice of cultivating the soul and 
body, like a religion. Is it so?
It is not a religion because there is no religious form. Perfection is aimed directly at the human soul, and not at the observance of religious traditions and rituals. That is, from the very beginning, self-improvement occurs as an internal work on oneself in accordance with the principles of practice, and not due to compliance with formally imposed external restrictions and rules, as, for example, in religions.
The pamphlet states that "it has no cultural, social, economic or national restrictions, so Falun Gong is practiced by people from all walks of life and from different countries." Does a person's religious views affect practicing Falun Gong?
A person with any outlook on life can and is able to understand the essence and content of cultivation according to Falun Dafa (Falun Gong), but in the future, of course, it is necessary to cultivate only one school, since any mixing is unacceptable and will not lead to achievement. Only if the same religion solves such cultivation problems of “only one school” among its followers, simply declaring all others except it as heretical, then Falun Dafa recognizes other orthodox religions and directions, but at the same time explains in detail why mixing different directions is unacceptable improvement.
- In addition to the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, are there any other provisions that form the basis of the system?
In addition to this principle, Master Li Hongzhi outlined other points in the main Book, designed to open understanding and guide cultivators, but it will not be possible to state their essence in a short and formal answer. This still requires a process of cognition and comprehension.
- Perfection of the body in Falun Gong is done with the help of 5 exercises. What are these exercises?
These are exercises based on qigong gymnastics with powerful energy, capable of transforming and supporting the physical body from the inside, contributing to its purification in terms of energy, which, in principle, somewhat replaces, by analogy, fasting and austerities adopted in religions. This, by the way, can be another example of external restrictions in religions and vice versa, internal processing in Falun Dafa. Classes are usually 2-3 hours long. 2 hours of exercises and an hour for the theoretical part - the study of the principles of improvement and the exchange of experience. At the same time, there is no hard their restrictions on time, place or order of classes.
I was shocked by the fact that in China, organs are removed from the followers of this practice. Are people still being persecuted there today?
There are still repressions going on. And in the spirit of the 37th year of the communist regime, a network of Chinese Gulags is organized there, which implements such criminal plans. Here's an interesting fact, by the way: The "610 Committee" (or "610 Office") is an organization specifically created to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power at all levels of the party-state administration, the judiciary and other systems. In terms of methods of action, it is comparable to the Nazi Gestapo. It was formed on June 10, 1999 - hence its name.
It is a little unclear why the followers of this teaching are persecuted. For what? They don't really do anything wrong, do they?
This information causes about the same bewilderment, up to distrust, in every ordinary person who is unfamiliar with the communist "ideals". But, remembering the tradition in our country a few decades ago, as if nothing had happened to declare "enemies of the people", then everything becomes clear, especially since the "successors" surpassed their former "mentors". Check out Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. There are many facts of reprisals against their people. Before Falun Gong, there were others who were persecuted. A lot... And by the time the persecution began, the number of Falun Gong practitioners in China amounted to up to 100 million people, it even exceeded the number of members of the Communist Party, which was one of the reasons.
- Are there many Falun Gong followers in Russia? The bulk of the people - who are they?
In Russia, compared to other countries, there are relatively few practitioners, and perhaps there are reasons for this. These are people from different walks of life. And here it is difficult to say which ones, since origin, wealth or education do not play a role. Values in the soul of a person have a direct influence, which allow him to realize and understand for himself the importance of such improvement. In terms of age, these are still people who are already mature, more often from 30 and older. These are those who are no longer blinded by the pursuit of success, spectacles, momentary whims, who, due to age, can already more soberly understand life and the correctness of their attitude to enduring values.
- Are there any special requirements for people who want to practice Falun Gong?
There are no special ones, but there are general requirements contained in the appendix to the main book of Falun Dafa. For example, true Falun Gong disciples are prohibited from interfering with government policy and violating the laws of society.
What is the typical beginning of the practice of a person who learned about Falun Dafa and decided to try to cultivate?
He contacts one of the practitioners (most often practice sites in parks) who volunteered the responsibility of bringing music and teaching newcomers the exercises. This practitioner explains to him how to get there, what time the class is, and so on. When he arrives, he is briefly told about Falun Dafa, the principles of practice, and is taught the exercises and shown how to do them correctly. They invite you to join the class. They give links to information on the network: to music, to videos with training, and so on.
Then a person can continue to go to classes, can learn on his own, can stop walking altogether if he decides that this is not for him. The maximum that will be asked is the name and, perhaps, they will be interested in whether he was previously engaged in any practice. Everything else, if he wants, he already talks about himself.
By the way, here in Yekaterinburg you can also find people practicing this system. Andrey Tolmachev, a practicing Falun Gong consultant, said that in Yekaterinburg there is a small group of practitioners: about 5-10 people. More information about Falun Dafa and its followers can be found here.
Reverse side of the medal
At the same time, in Russia, the attitude of the authorities to this trend is ambiguous. In 2008, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation published on its website a list of extremist literature, which included the book Zhuan Falun by Li Hongzhi and some information leaflets calling for the peaceful prevention of crimes in China. Also, the symbols of Falun Gong were banned in Russia due to their similarity to the Nazi swastika. The emblem of Falun Gong has an icon that looks like a swastika, but differs from it in the angle of inclination, and also in that the rays are turned in the opposite direction, unlike the Nazi symbol.
Recently it became known that the European Court of Human Rights will consider several cases in which Russia will act as a defendant, including in relation to the ban on Falun Gong literature. But when the decision will be made is unknown. Meanwhile, in May 2017, the Khostinsky District Court of Sochi fined a local resident, Falun Gong follower Sergey Baldanov under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials) for three thousand rubles and confiscated Li Hongzhi's book Falun Dafa from him. We remind you that Li Hongzhi's book "Zhuan Falun" was included in the list of banned literature. Unfortunately, this didn't bother anyone in court.
By the way, repressions in China against Falun Gong followers do exist. Since August 2006, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak and UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom Asma Jahangir have filed numerous allegations with the Committee Against Torture that the Chinese Communist Party harvests organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. They reported in 2008: “The short wait time for a perfectly matched organ, as advertised, suggests the existence of a computerized organ selection system and a large bank of living donors. It is assumed that the discrepancy between organs available and the number of transplants for which donors are unknown is due to the fact that organs are harvested from Falun Gong practitioners, and the increase in the number of transplants in 2000 coincides with the beginning of the persecution of this group.”
Photo: Olesya Ivanova, Nikolay Stenilovsky, Persons-info.com, Kosovo99.ru, Ru.minghui.org
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Lishai Lemish looks at history and reveals the reasons why the CCP is carrying out the campaign to persecute Falun Gong
"If Falun Gong is good, then why is the Chinese government so afraid of it?" After nine years of persecution, this issue still stands. Here I will try to answer it.
In the 80s. every day at dawn, about 200 million Chinese people filled the parks in China, where they performed exercises consisting of fluid movements, known as a form of qigong. In 1992, Master Li Hongzhi began to teach Falun Gong as a common qigong practice. However, Master Li did not focus on healing the body and developing supernatural abilities, but on self-improvement to achieve spiritual perfection.
Falun Gong gained immense popularity almost instantly. Master Li traveled all over China, passed on the practice, talked about its principles. Information about Falun Gong was passed on by word of mouth, and soon [Falun Gong practitioners] could be found in thousands of parks. The Chinese consulate in Paris invited Master Li to teach the practice at his premises, and official figures showed that the government has saved millions in medical costs thanks to Falun Gong.
Spreading rapidly until July 1999, Falun Gong suddenly became the number one social danger in the opinion of the communist government. Practitioners are sent to "re-education labor camps" where they are starved, beaten, and tortured with electric batons. By 2008, more than 3,000 practitioners had died as a result of state persecution. There is very strong evidence that even more practitioners have unwittingly become donors of kidneys, livers and hearts. What is the actual number of these victims, we do not know.
Why is this brutal persecution taking place?
Weak Explanations
Faced with international criticism and domestic sympathy for Falun Gong, China's ruling Communist Party began to look for a rationale for its campaign. She stated that Falun Gong is a threat to society, that it is a superstition-based, well-organized, dangerous meditative group abroad. State media told horror stories of mutilations and suicides, but outsiders were not allowed to investigate these cases. When people somehow manage to carefully investigate such cases, they find that it has happened to people who do not exist at all, and the crimes are committed by people who have nothing to do with Falun Gong. Human rights organization human rights watch calls such official statements simply "fake".
Some scholars believe that party leaders feared Falun Gong because it reminded them of past religious uprisings. However, judging only by general impressions, it is impossible to see how bloody these groups were: for example, the often mentioned uprising in Taiping, which resulted in the death of 20 million people. Falun Gong has always been strictly non-violent and has no insurgency plans.
One of the latest clarifications to denigrate Falun Gong is that on April 25, 1999, 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered in the political heart of Beijing, which frightened the party leaders and caused the persecution to begin.
However, in reality, the peaceful demonstration was the result of a three-year escalation in the suppression of [Falun Gong] before. In fact, it was a direct response to the arrests and beatings of practitioners in nearby Tianjin and the media's smear campaign against Falun Gong.
Opinion of one leader
This was the main incident, but it was caused by other reasons. That April day, Premier Zhu Rongji received the representatives of this group 1 of practitioners and listened to their complaints. The detainees were released. Practitioners involved in this incident told me that they were very encouraged by the fact that negotiations between the government and the people had begun.
However, that same evening, Chairman Jiang Zemin sharply rejected Zhu's conciliatory position. He branded Falun Gong as a threat to the Party and said that it would be humiliating for the Party if Falun Gong was not immediately eradicated. Indeed, many experts attribute this campaign to Jiang's obsession with Falun Gong as much as to other factors.
The result of popularity
It seems that Jiang and other anti-compromise party members (some of whom still hold high positions and support this campaign) were afraid of Falun Gong's great popularity in various social strata of society. In the northern cities, the workers did the exercises together in the yard of the factories before going to the machines. Professors and students meditated on the lawns of Tsinghua University. The wives of party leaders and senior party cadres formed their own small group in central Beijing.
This fear of Falun Gong's popularity explains why just weeks after Falun Gong's flagship book, Zhuan Falun, became a bestseller in 1996, its publication was banned. And also why, after the government's announcement that the number of Falun Gong practitioners (70 million people) exceeded the number of party members was released, special agents began to interfere with practitioners' exercise.
Rogue party-state explanation
For decades, the party has been persecuting various groups: intellectuals, people employed in the arts, clergy, conservatives, reformists, and for this it organizes various political movements. Some are persecuted because they are out of party control or have their own ideology. Falun Gong, with its spiritual teachings, sense of community, and community independence, falls into this category.
The persecution is targeted at other groups when the party leadership begins to intrigue to level power for itself. It appears that Falun Gong has also fallen victim to this situation, as the persecution can be used as an excuse to strengthen the security apparatus. This gave the party an opportunity to add fuel to its [state] machine, from the purges of the Cultural Revolution to Internet surveillance.
As torture survivor Zhao Ming told me at a meeting in Dublin, "The Party's persecution machine was already in place—Jiang just pushed a button."
Ringworm Lemish
Qigong Falun Gong is ancient knowledge that is passed down and adapted to modern people. Since 1992, the cultivation system of Falun Dafa has been openly taught by Mr. Li Hongzhi. Over 100 million people around the world practice Falun Gong. Since 1999, China has been subjected to brutal covert repression.
In the West, many people are already accepting alternative forms of health care and maintenance. Some people try different diets. Someone is looking for those who own the technique of acupuncture, massage. Someone goes to specialists in color therapy, yoga and Ayurvedic medicine.
Qigong is also gaining popularity in Western society. Classes qigong began to be held in cultural centers, fitness halls and institutes. In the homeland of qigong, China, people of all ages can be seen practicing various forms of qigong such as tai chi or Falun Gong early in the morning in the parks.
The Chinese believe that they have secrets that are passed on to the people through. Secret knowledge helps them look younger, live longer and give them wisdom. In the early 1990s, Falun Gong (in the form of qigong) became very popular in China.
Why, with so many ancient secrets in China, has Falun Gong become the most popular form of qigong in the country? Why is it still widely practiced today, despite the brutal persecution to which its followers are subjected in the PRC? What is Falun Dafa and what makes it such an exceptional practice?
The ancient origins of Falun Gong
In Asia, this kind of spiritual practice is often referred to as "cultivation" or "self-cultivation" or qigong. They are an integral part of classical Chinese culture. Various Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian practices fall into this category.
Consistently and methodically in ancient times, followers of spiritual practices achieved a state of inner purity and balance. In the process of improvement, deep mechanisms are involved in order to lead a person to true healing of both soul and body. In the end, a person could approach the state of such spiritual elevation, which in Asian tradition is known as "enlightenment" or "achievement of the Tao."
What is Learned in Falun Gong (Falun Dafa)
Unlike monasticism and seclusion in the mountains and forests, Falun Dafa is practiced in the community and its followers can have families, children and careers. Falun Gong strives for internal transformation, which is reflected in external positive changes in relation to the world. In this way, a Falun Dafa follower becomes more patient in his family, as well as a more conscientious worker and active member of society.
According to the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, the practice is based on the assimilation of a person with the highest quality (property) of the universe - Zhen 真 Shan 善 Ren 忍. Practice is guided by these higher principles, relying on the laws formed by the development of the cosmos.
In books and lecture notes, Mr. Li Hongzhi reveals many issues that were previously a deep mystery. The main book, Zhuan Falun, describes many mysterious phenomena in the development of mankind. Master Li talks about the ancient traditions of cultivation, the laws of the development of the Universe, and explains many lives.
Book Zhuan Falun in different languages. Photo from the book exhibition in Moscow.
Qigong Falun Gong consists of five energy exercises (four sets are performed standing and one set is meditation), but cultivation training is at the core. Self-improvement is understood as the continuous striving of a person to live in accordance with the principle of the Universe Zhen-Shan-Ren (translated from Chinese Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance). Cultivation of oneself is the main goal of practicing Falun Dafa, while doing the exercises is an aid. After all qigong is not just gymnastics but a method of perfecting the soul and body.
Most people who do the Falun Gong exercises and follow the teachings of Falun Dafa show a significant improvement in their health and mental state. They are manifested in a decrease in stress levels, improved sleep, a feeling of lightness, energy and good mood. Many cases of overcoming life-threatening diseases.
A demonstration of the Falun Gong exercises in Moscow during a city event.
The exact way to get rid of diseases through Falun Dafa is not understood by modern medicine, as it is a completely different level of knowledge and a different approach to healing. However, the effect of practicing Falun Gong can be measured and documented.
The Amazing Effect of Falun Gong
In 1998, one census conducted by the Chinese government shows that at least 70 million people practice Falun Dafa. This definitely shows that Falun Gong is the most popular qigong practice in Chinese history.
Many practitioners share their personal experiences, proving that Falun Dafa has powerful healing properties. Below are two reviews.
“Just one month after I started cultivating in accordance with the universal principles of Falun Dafa “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” the disease (leukemia), which is incurable by modern medicine and costing hundreds of thousands of yuan [tens of thousands of dollars] to my family, disappeared completely. ,” says a Falun Gong practitioner from mainland China.
Another review of Falun Gong:
« I used to have second degree osteonecrosis (bone degeneration) and was practically paralyzed for about a year. But it wasn't until three or four days after I started practicing Falun Dafa that I gave up my crutches and could walk again,” explains another Falun Gong practitioner from China.
Study confirms the positive effects of Falun Dafa
In 1998, the first large medical survey of Falun Gong practitioners was conducted in Beijing. Of the 12,731 people who participated in the survey, 93.4% had underlying illnesses. 49.8% of them suffered from at least three diseases before practicing Falun Gong.
By studying and practicing Falun Gong qigong, their health improved. This improvement occurred in 99.1% of people, 58.5% of them were completely cured. The percentage of subjects reporting that they felt "very energetic" increased from 3.5% at the start of the practice to 56.6% at the end of the experiment.
The study also showed that 12,287 people, or 96.5% of the participants, felt mentally healthier after they started practicing Falun Gong qigong.
In addition, the Beijing study found that the number of Falun Gong practitioners is rapidly increasing every year.
Doing the Falun Gong exercises in China. 1990s
According to this study, every Chinese citizen who practices Falun Dafa saves the government 3,270 yuan a year in medical expenses. At the time of the study, 1 yuan cost about 0.12 US dollars and the average worker in China received about 500 yuan per month. Multiplying this figure by tens of millions of followers of the ancient system, we see that Falun Gong saved billions of dollars in medical expenses for the Chinese budget.
Another study was conducted in Taiwan. 1,182 participants were examined and observed. The report says that through Falun Gong, bad habits are naturally cured. According to the study, 81% of the participants in the experiment quit smoking, 77% began to refrain from drinking alcohol, and 85% stopped gambling.
Falun Gong Awards in China and Abroad
Falun Gong and its founder have received many awards and commendations from government officials and organizations around the world. Many Falun Gong followers have received awards for their active social contributions.
In 1993, the founder of the practice, Mr. Li Hongzhi, was named the "People's Qigong Master" in Beijing. The official authorities presented him with the "Award for high progress in avant-garde science."
In the same year, the magazine of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, "People's Security", wrote about Mr. Li's services to society, about his contribution "to promote the traditional virtues of the Chinese people in combating crime, in maintaining public order and security, and in promoting justice in society."
The founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2009, he was awarded the "Spiritual Leader-2009" award.
Master Li Hongzhi has always insisted that Falun Gong be distributed free of charge so that it is available to all people. For this reason, all books, videos and other educational materials are provided free of charge online at the international site falundafa.org.
Few people today know that Falun Dafa and its followers received wide official recognition in China in the 1990s. Before there was a dramatic change in political winds in 1999 when Falun Gong was secretly persecuted in China.
Marathon to persecute Falun Gong in China
1999 "Destroy their reputation, ruin them financially, destroy them physically!" This is a personal order from the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, against the followers of the meditation practice Falun Gong. Thus began the persecution marathon of 100 million civilians in China. The repression affected people of all ages, with the brutal methods of humiliation, torture, rape and murder inherent in the communist regime.
"All Falun Gong deaths should be declared suicide!" This is the next order of the leader of the Communist Party of those years, Jiang Zemin. He personally issued an order to set up an executive branch with the special mission of eradicating Falun Gong. This body was called the "610 Office," a body reminiscent of the Gestapo, above the government and answering only to Jiang. The atrocities that the 610 Office perpetrated were inexpressible and beyond any common human sense.
Unprecedented criminal business in China
In early March 2006, information appeared about the existence of death camps in China. There, Falun Dafa practitioners were kept as a living bank of organs and body parts for transplantation. Subsequently, their corpses were burned in crematoria to hide the traces of crimes.
Former Canadian Attorney General David Kilgour and international human rights lawyer David Matas conducted an independent investigation and found that illegal organ harvesting in China really exists. The investigation is based on dozens of types of evidence. These include interviews with eyewitnesses, recordings of telephone conversations with doctors in Chinese hospitals, collecting data on blood samples from Falun Dafa practitioners detained in camps and prisons, and others.
The results of this study were published by David Kilgour and David Matas in a July 2006 report. This independent report has been translated into 19 languages (organharvestinvestigation.net), and has received support in more than 30 countries, as well as the European Parliament and the United Nations.
Support for Falun Gong in the world
Today, more than 100 million people practice Falun Dafa in over 110 countries. Since the beginning of distribution in China in 1992, the whole world has been convinced of the effectiveness of the ancient meditation system of cultivation and the benefits for the whole society. However, the brutal persecution of Falun Gong continues today. What can be done while living far from the place of cruel massacre of peaceful people?
For many years, Falun Dafa practitioners around the world have been urging people to pay attention to this global problem. Politicians and authorities in many countries, bound by economic interests, hesitate to tell the truth. But ordinary people voice their support Falun Gong and his beautiful principles of honesty, kindness and patience.
Around the world, signatures were collected at the UN under a petition organized by the association of doctors DAFOH, against persecution Falun Gong in China and ending the removal of organs for sale. For 2018, more than 3 million signatures were collected and the collection of signatures was stopped due to the inaction of the UN.
Today, anyone can cast their vote for goodness at change.org
