Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 194
of different levels to eliminate it‘. This was first mentioned in his 2 January 2001 message
‗Beyond the Limits of Forbearance‘ and was again stated in his 19 May 2001 message given
at a Falun Dafa conference in Canada.64 Regarding eliminating evil Li said: ‗So in the
process of eliminating it don‘t be lenient at all, just eliminate it!‘ He then added: ‗Here I am
not referring to humans, but to those evil beings that manipulate humans‘.
The problem is that the distinction between the evil beings in ‗other dimensions‘ and the evil
beings on earth is a fine line and crossing that line could be justified by Li‘s teachings,
should he decide to make that shift. Li has already established that people in China who
take part in the government ban are ‗demons‘ and ‗utterly inhuman‘ so they do not have to
be seen as humans. As David C. Rapoport points out, when ‗[t]he enemy is wholly evil
...something other than human ...[a]gainst such an antagonist the temptation becomes
over-whelming to argue that everything is permissible, that he must be mercilessly
destroyed‘.65
For now, the practitioners are encouraged to fight and destroy the evil in the ‗other
dimensions‘ using supernormal powers and righteous thoughts, but it is a fine line between
the evil ‗it‘ in the other dimensions and the people in the here-and-now who are no longer
considered human or are seen as housing the evil. This was true for the nineteenth-century
Taiping revolution leader. He battled demons in various levels of heaven and hell and then
was directed by the ‗Heavenly Father‘ to ‗wait until they had gone down to the level of
heaven which is the world, and then to decapitate them‘.66
On 29 May 2001, there was a testimonial by a nine-year-old practitioner posted to the Falun
Gong website titled ‗What Pengpeng Saw in Other Dimensions on the Morning of May 27,
Beijing Time‘. The date and time are important because that is when FLG practitioners first
observed their new ‗eliminate evil‘ practice that Li gave them in which all practitioners
world-wide ‗send forth‘ their ‗righteous thoughts‘ at a certain time to ‗eliminate evil‘. The
sending forth of righteous thoughts to eliminate evil has since become a major part of the
practitioners practice in this ‗time of Fa-rectification‘.
The 29 May 2001 testimonial is important because it has some new features: it describes
the battle in the ‗other dimensions‘ but now there are names of actual persons given to the
demon images in the battle, one of them being Jiang Zemin.67 It is only the Teacher who
can identify and name who each demon is in the ordinary world. It also speaks of using
bombs to kill these demons. On 30 May 2001, another testimonial by a child was posted in
which warehouses and ‗bases for making tanks‘ were blown up in the ‗other dimensions‘,
and military computer systems had their data deleted and replaced with a CD of information
from the Falun Gong website.68
Nearly a year later, FLG practitioners cut into the cables of a television station in China and
replaced the station programming with a FLG video.69 The similarity to the actions witnessed
by Pengpeng in the ‗other dimensions‘ may be coincidental. However, if actions in the ‗other
dimensions‘ are seen as approved forms of protest, it would indicate a crossing of the line
from ‗other dimensions‘ to reality.
Not only is the ‗other‘ being demonized in the Falun Gong teachings, but Falun Gong
practitioners are increasingly told they are now elevated to a status higher than human. In
a Falun Gong website posting 3 June 2001, practitioners make the following comments:
‗When we still consider ourselves as human beings, we will really be restrained by the
principles of human beings‘. Another practitioner states: ‗I realize that, at present, the
human notions are the biggest factors that hold us back. Those human notions are different
from thought karma. They could be conceptions or conventional thoughts on integrity and
righteousness formed in our long period of human life‘.70
of different levels to eliminate it‘. This was first mentioned in his 2 January 2001 message
‗Beyond the Limits of Forbearance‘ and was again stated in his 19 May 2001 message given
at a Falun Dafa conference in Canada.64 Regarding eliminating evil Li said: ‗So in the
process of eliminating it don‘t be lenient at all, just eliminate it!‘ He then added: ‗Here I am
not referring to humans, but to those evil beings that manipulate humans‘.
The problem is that the distinction between the evil beings in ‗other dimensions‘ and the evil
beings on earth is a fine line and crossing that line could be justified by Li‘s teachings,
should he decide to make that shift. Li has already established that people in China who
take part in the government ban are ‗demons‘ and ‗utterly inhuman‘ so they do not have to
be seen as humans. As David C. Rapoport points out, when ‗[t]he enemy is wholly evil
...something other than human ...[a]gainst such an antagonist the temptation becomes
over-whelming to argue that everything is permissible, that he must be mercilessly
destroyed‘.65
For now, the practitioners are encouraged to fight and destroy the evil in the ‗other
dimensions‘ using supernormal powers and righteous thoughts, but it is a fine line between
the evil ‗it‘ in the other dimensions and the people in the here-and-now who are no longer
considered human or are seen as housing the evil. This was true for the nineteenth-century
Taiping revolution leader. He battled demons in various levels of heaven and hell and then
was directed by the ‗Heavenly Father‘ to ‗wait until they had gone down to the level of
heaven which is the world, and then to decapitate them‘.66
On 29 May 2001, there was a testimonial by a nine-year-old practitioner posted to the Falun
Gong website titled ‗What Pengpeng Saw in Other Dimensions on the Morning of May 27,
Beijing Time‘. The date and time are important because that is when FLG practitioners first
observed their new ‗eliminate evil‘ practice that Li gave them in which all practitioners
world-wide ‗send forth‘ their ‗righteous thoughts‘ at a certain time to ‗eliminate evil‘. The
sending forth of righteous thoughts to eliminate evil has since become a major part of the
practitioners practice in this ‗time of Fa-rectification‘.
The 29 May 2001 testimonial is important because it has some new features: it describes
the battle in the ‗other dimensions‘ but now there are names of actual persons given to the
demon images in the battle, one of them being Jiang Zemin.67 It is only the Teacher who
can identify and name who each demon is in the ordinary world. It also speaks of using
bombs to kill these demons. On 30 May 2001, another testimonial by a child was posted in
which warehouses and ‗bases for making tanks‘ were blown up in the ‗other dimensions‘,
and military computer systems had their data deleted and replaced with a CD of information
from the Falun Gong website.68
Nearly a year later, FLG practitioners cut into the cables of a television station in China and
replaced the station programming with a FLG video.69 The similarity to the actions witnessed
by Pengpeng in the ‗other dimensions‘ may be coincidental. However, if actions in the ‗other
dimensions‘ are seen as approved forms of protest, it would indicate a crossing of the line
from ‗other dimensions‘ to reality.
Not only is the ‗other‘ being demonized in the Falun Gong teachings, but Falun Gong
practitioners are increasingly told they are now elevated to a status higher than human. In
a Falun Gong website posting 3 June 2001, practitioners make the following comments:
‗When we still consider ourselves as human beings, we will really be restrained by the
principles of human beings‘. Another practitioner states: ‗I realize that, at present, the
human notions are the biggest factors that hold us back. Those human notions are different
from thought karma. They could be conceptions or conventional thoughts on integrity and
righteousness formed in our long period of human life‘.70
