Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 192
answered, and the vicious fabrication and slander would continue contaminating people‘s
minds. Then they would not only agree, but they would be thankful. When we can answer
their questions we are also saving them and all those who read their articles‘.49
In a FLG press release titled: ‗‗Show Tours‘ Planned to use Media for Spreading Beijing
Propaganda‘ FLG management asks the Western press not to participate in upcoming tours
of detention centers or interviews with reformed FLG practitioners that the government
plans to offer. From the FLG perspective, the FLG must protect the media from reporting the
words of the evil opponent so that people may ‗regard the Fa correctly‘ and it may be truly
known and accepted by all, thereby saving their souls.50
The Message. Using the Minghui website as means of communication, Li began to regularly
post messages to the site starting from May 2000. While representatives from the FLG office
in New York spoke to the press and public in terms of human rights, Li spoke to his
practitioners, not in terms of human rights, but in terms of eliminating all evil from the
universe and reaching Consummation. Li‘s teachings prior to the ban focused on how an
individual practitioner could ‗study and obtain the Fa‘ (called ‗cultivation‘) and ultimately
reach Consummation, but his teachings after May 2000 focused on taking an activist stance
towards events in China. The task of practitioners became to ‗clarify the truth‘ and ‗spread
the truth‘ about FLG to counteract the government‘s claims.
Then, in September 2000, messages began appearing on the FLG website specifically
criticizing the president of China, Jiang Zemin, and spoke of the necessity for FLG
practitioners to ‗step forward‘ to ‗validate the Fa‘. This activist ‗stepping forward‘ for
practitioners in China can include: going to Tiananmen Square to protest and being
detained, going on a hunger-strike once in detention, passing out flyers to the public
(usually into mailboxes since this is done surreptitiously at night), and printing and
distributing FLG website articles and Li‘s teachings (obtained either by skirting the internet
restrictions in China or via email from practitioners outside China),51 contacting Western
reporters, reporting information on abuses, detentions, etc., as well as sending testimonials
to the New York FLG office.
In ‗Serious Teachings‘, posted 26 September 2000, Li tells those who have not ‗stepped
forward‘ that they ‗must break-away from humanness‘ and join those ‗who have been
persecuted in the tribulations‘.52 Those ‗afraid to step forward to validate the Fa‘ are being
controlled by demons and have ‗forever lost their chance‘ to reach Consummation. Li makes
it clear that the persecution continues and intensifies only because FLG practitioners have
not let go of all their attachments and been able to step forward. Those followers who step
forward and are beaten or die, those who sacrifice everything, are gods. Those who
renounce FLG while in reeducation camps and become ‗reformed‘ are said by Li to be
‗fiends‘ and ‗malignant tumors‘.53 This contrasting of those willing to ‗step forward‘ and
sacrifice everything to those who do not, is a continuing theme after September 2000.
‗Stepping forward‘ becomes a proof of faith, a test to prove your moral worthiness,54 it is
the only way they can save themselves and help the Teacher in this cosmic undertaking.
The possible effects of this was reported on by Ian Johnson: ‗But dozens of interviews with
Falungong members in recent months reveal another, more subtle source of pressure: the
demands of their beloved founder, Mr. Li[‗s]... [r]ecent writings, ...have also stressed
unwavering activism and opposition to the state. While few complain, they say they can
meet Mr. Li‘s requirements only by sacrificing everything, in a desperate – and probably
hopeless – bid to force the government to lift its ban. In a series of essays over the past few
months, Mr. Li has asked of his disciples almost impossible feats of loyalty and shown little
sympathy for those who buckle, in one case denouncing them as ―depraved‖‘.55
Practitioners cannot reach Consummation (and hence ascend to their own Falun paradise)
until what Li calls the ‗Fa-rectification‘ ends. In August 2001 Li states that ‗disciples must
answered, and the vicious fabrication and slander would continue contaminating people‘s
minds. Then they would not only agree, but they would be thankful. When we can answer
their questions we are also saving them and all those who read their articles‘.49
In a FLG press release titled: ‗‗Show Tours‘ Planned to use Media for Spreading Beijing
Propaganda‘ FLG management asks the Western press not to participate in upcoming tours
of detention centers or interviews with reformed FLG practitioners that the government
plans to offer. From the FLG perspective, the FLG must protect the media from reporting the
words of the evil opponent so that people may ‗regard the Fa correctly‘ and it may be truly
known and accepted by all, thereby saving their souls.50
The Message. Using the Minghui website as means of communication, Li began to regularly
post messages to the site starting from May 2000. While representatives from the FLG office
in New York spoke to the press and public in terms of human rights, Li spoke to his
practitioners, not in terms of human rights, but in terms of eliminating all evil from the
universe and reaching Consummation. Li‘s teachings prior to the ban focused on how an
individual practitioner could ‗study and obtain the Fa‘ (called ‗cultivation‘) and ultimately
reach Consummation, but his teachings after May 2000 focused on taking an activist stance
towards events in China. The task of practitioners became to ‗clarify the truth‘ and ‗spread
the truth‘ about FLG to counteract the government‘s claims.
Then, in September 2000, messages began appearing on the FLG website specifically
criticizing the president of China, Jiang Zemin, and spoke of the necessity for FLG
practitioners to ‗step forward‘ to ‗validate the Fa‘. This activist ‗stepping forward‘ for
practitioners in China can include: going to Tiananmen Square to protest and being
detained, going on a hunger-strike once in detention, passing out flyers to the public
(usually into mailboxes since this is done surreptitiously at night), and printing and
distributing FLG website articles and Li‘s teachings (obtained either by skirting the internet
restrictions in China or via email from practitioners outside China),51 contacting Western
reporters, reporting information on abuses, detentions, etc., as well as sending testimonials
to the New York FLG office.
In ‗Serious Teachings‘, posted 26 September 2000, Li tells those who have not ‗stepped
forward‘ that they ‗must break-away from humanness‘ and join those ‗who have been
persecuted in the tribulations‘.52 Those ‗afraid to step forward to validate the Fa‘ are being
controlled by demons and have ‗forever lost their chance‘ to reach Consummation. Li makes
it clear that the persecution continues and intensifies only because FLG practitioners have
not let go of all their attachments and been able to step forward. Those followers who step
forward and are beaten or die, those who sacrifice everything, are gods. Those who
renounce FLG while in reeducation camps and become ‗reformed‘ are said by Li to be
‗fiends‘ and ‗malignant tumors‘.53 This contrasting of those willing to ‗step forward‘ and
sacrifice everything to those who do not, is a continuing theme after September 2000.
‗Stepping forward‘ becomes a proof of faith, a test to prove your moral worthiness,54 it is
the only way they can save themselves and help the Teacher in this cosmic undertaking.
The possible effects of this was reported on by Ian Johnson: ‗But dozens of interviews with
Falungong members in recent months reveal another, more subtle source of pressure: the
demands of their beloved founder, Mr. Li[‗s]... [r]ecent writings, ...have also stressed
unwavering activism and opposition to the state. While few complain, they say they can
meet Mr. Li‘s requirements only by sacrificing everything, in a desperate – and probably
hopeless – bid to force the government to lift its ban. In a series of essays over the past few
months, Mr. Li has asked of his disciples almost impossible feats of loyalty and shown little
sympathy for those who buckle, in one case denouncing them as ―depraved‖‘.55
Practitioners cannot reach Consummation (and hence ascend to their own Falun paradise)
until what Li calls the ‗Fa-rectification‘ ends. In August 2001 Li states that ‗disciples must
