Falun Gong

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement that draws on Chinese Buddhist, Daoist, and qigong traditions to promote a system of daily practice that aims at the transformation of one's “human flesh-body” into an immortal Buddha body. The movement's founder, Li Hongzhi, rapidly rose to fame amid the widespread popularity of qigong practices in Chinese society in the 1980s and 1990s, claiming that Falun Gong was distinct from and superior to any other practice or path. Having emerged in northeastern China in 1992, the group claimed as many as 70 million practitioners in China by the time the movement was outlawed by the Chinese Communist Party in 1999, when it was officially denounced as an evil cult. After years of reeducation programs for one-time practitioners in China, Falun Gong has reportedly been eradicated in that country. Over the same period of time the movement has spread around the globe, claiming worldwide practitioners numbering more than 100 million, though this number cannot be verified as Falun Gong maintains no records of membership. Li currently lives in exile in the United States, continuing to lecture around the world as well as to disseminate his writings via the Internet.

Li's teachings can be seen to adopt and adapt many well-known concepts and practices found generally throughout China's myriad religious traditions, yet Li also eschews tradition, purporting to offer a highly individualized spiritual practice suitable for anyone regardless of personal income, background, or social standing. Through the daily performance of five physical exercises and adherence to the teachings of Master Li, adherents aim to transform themselves in an effort both to harmonize and to ultimately transcend this world. Falun Gong followers believe that Li has implanted invisible mechanisms within them to aid their spiritual and physical progress, including a fa lun or dharma wheel as well as more than 10,000 qiji or energy mechanisms. The exercises are intended to reinforce the work of these implanted mechanisms. Benefits of this process range from the achievement of perfect health to the development of supernormal powers such as precognition.

Practitioners around the world, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, gather regularly at public parks, some daily, others weekly, to perform the Falun Gong exercises. Many groups also meet regularly to read and discuss the writings of Li Hongzhi. Since 1999, practitioners in some countries regularly maintain a presence at the entrances of popular tourist sites, handing out literature and displaying posters promoting Falun Gong as a method of cultivation practice as well as attempting to draw attention to what it says are the horrors of the Chinese government's campaign against the group.