Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 200
Lakes Conference in North America‘ (note 58) ‗Persons in Charge of the European Fa
Conference and All Attendees‘, 19 March 2001,
http://www.clearwisdom.net/eng/2001/Mar/20/JingWen032001.html.
62 See Ian Reader, Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press) 2000. Also, see Catherine Wessinger, How the Millennium Comes
Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven‘s Gate (New York: Seven Bridges Press) 2000.
63 Li Hongzhi, ‗Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing
Conference‘, 19 May 2001, http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/22/10271.html.
64 Rapoport (note 54) p.208.
65 Scott Lowe, ‗Western Millennial Ideology Goes East: The Taiping Revolution and Mao‘s Great Leap
Forward‘, in Catherine Wessinger (ed.), Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical
Cases (Syracuse: Syracuse Press 2000) p.23.
66 The FLG internal-campaign against Jiang Zemin became intense during his trip abroad in April
2002, when practitioners were to Send Forth Righteous Thoughts every hour to eliminate this
‗chief wretch‘. See ‗Fa-rectification During Jiang‘s Trip to Germany–l‘, 21 April 2002,
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/4/17/28616.html.
67 ‗What Pengpeng Saw in Other Dimensions on the Morning of May 27, Beijing Time‘, 29 May 2001,
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/29/10543.html ‗What Shanshan Saw in
Other Dimensions (VII). Events that Took Place in Other Dimensions During the Fa–
Rectification‘, 30 May 2001, http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2001/5/30/10591.html.
These testimonies by children about events taking place in the ‗other dimensions‘ came in
series and were referred to in other postings.
68 Philip P. Pan. ‗Falun Gong Seized City‘s State-Run TV to Broadcast Message‘, Washington Post
Foreign Service, Friday 8 March 2002, p.A20.
69 ‗Excerpt from the Discussion about ―Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts, Eradicating the Evil‖‘, 3
June 2001, http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/6/1/11708.html.
70 According to Reader (note 62) the loss of the political election and the harsh ridicule had a major
influence on Aum. After this, the group‘s leader Asahara, changed his teachings from striving
towards the enlightenment of all beings to the salvation of his followers as the elect few,
finally leading to the belief that the outside world was evil, intent on destroying Aum, and
deserving of retribution.
71 http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/10/30/18838.html.
72 ‗With appeal for data, Falungong promises to deploy US justice against China‘, AFP, 5 Sept 2001.
‗The group has already slapped US civil lawsuits on several top Chinese officials during visits
to the United States under legislation that extends US jurisdiction over foreign cases of
torture‘. Also, see Barry Schweid, ‗Expelled Protesters Rally in D.C‘, 19 Feb 2002, ‗94 House
members sent Bush a letter last weekend asking him to express concern over what the Falun
Gong calls a campaign of terror. In a separate letter, five US senators expressed concern
about restrictions on the sect and treatment of its adherents‘.
73 Li Hongzhi, ‗Towards Consummation‘, 16 June 2000,
http://www.minghui.ca/eng/2000/Jun/17/JingWen061700.html. Li says that ‗Disciples are
waiting to reach Consummation, and I can wait no more‘. This theme of not wanting to wait
anymore is reflected in statements and testimonials by practitioners. It may be an indication
that practitioners are motivated in part by a sense of imminence. If so, this could fit into a
pattern of conditions necessary for religious messianism to turn violent. Rapoport states that
two conditions are necessary for this to occur: ‗Believers must think that the day of
deliverance is near or imminent, and they must also think that their actions can or must
consummate the process‘ (note 54) p.197. As of June 2001 comments have begun to appear
on the FLG website warning practitioners not to become ‗attached‘ to reaching Consummation,
possibly a message to calm down the sense of imminence for those who ‗can‘t wait‘.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 201
What Falun Gong Really Teaches
Samuel Luo
San Francisco, California
Abstract
In the West Falun Gong, founded by Li Hongzhi, has successfully marketed
itself as an innocent victim of the Chinese government's repression. However,
if one examines Falun Gong's teachings and practices closely, one finds that
its image of being a spiritual exercise masks the centrality of its founder's
god-like status and the cult-like use of deceptive and manipulative techniques
to increase membership.
Ever since Falun Gong was banned by the Chinese government in July 1999, it has gained
support and sympathy from human rights groups. By focusing just on its status as a victim
of an oppressive regime, Falun Gong has also gained uncritical support from the media. As a
result of all the favorable media attention, Falun Gong has been able to spread throughout
the U.S., not only in the Chinese community but in the non-Chinese community as well. But
what is the Falun Gong really about?
When Falun Gong was introduced to my parents in early 1999 in San Francisco, it was
presented as an exercise that promised to improve health. I can‘t describe how shocked I
was when I heard my mother start talking about the aliens who live among us and saying
that human society is bad, the end of world is coming, and Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun
Gong, is offering the last chance to save mankind. How did an exercise become a world-
saving religion?
Since immigrating to the United States in 1998, master Li has promoted his Falun Gong as a
Tai Chi like exercise1 However Falun Gong (exercise of the Dharma wheel) is just the
exercise component of Falun Dafa (great law of the Dharma wheel) both terms refer to a
unique system of belief and exercises that were created by Li Hongzhi and first introduced in
China in 1992. The free Falun Gong exercises work as a lure to recruit people into a system
of belief that Li has described as ―the highest principle of the universe.‖ In fact, Li has
made it very clear to his followers that ―those who only do the exercise but do not study the
Dafa they are not disciples of Falun Dafa whatsoever‖2.
Li‘s Falun Dafa is usually taught to newcomers after they feel comfortable with the
exercises. In it you learn that only Falun Gong practitioners can detect the highest moral
principles of the universe3, the existence of mixed races is a serious problem4, modern
science is destroying mankind5, and homosexuality is not the standard of being human6. Yet
to Li the worst thing that mankind can do is think negatively towards his Dafa (great truth):
―Let me tell you, when this Fa-rectification [Li‘s judgment day] matter is over, humankind
will enter the next stage, and those people and beings who in their minds think that the
Great Fa of the cosmos isn‘t good will be the first weeded out‖7. The enlightened master
also repeatedly warns his disciples that: ―A Dafa disciple who fails to achieve the effect of
the safeguarding and upholding Dafa has no way of reaching Consummation (Falun Dafa
paradise)‖8.
While heavily borrowing Buddhist terms for his Dafa, Li portrays himself as a supernatural
being whose teachings are superior to those of Sakyamuni (Buddha) and Jesus9. Although
Li has continually denied that Falun Gong is a religion, these denials are difficult to reconcile
with his repeated claims that he is providing the only hope for mankind in this ―Dharma-