Is Falun Gong a True Spiritual Practice?
“Falun Dafa is the true Way.” This is how one person described his experience of Falun Dafa, according to mingui.org. But why is Falun Gong considered a true spiritual way, or practice?
Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) is based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance, and the practice has had a profound impact on the lives of many people throughout China and the world. {Read 5 Reasons Why Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) is Great!)
Practioner doing Falun Dafa’s fourth meditative exercise (Credit: Theepochtimes.com)
Falun Gong is a form of qigong that began spreading in China in 1992. Qigong is a type of spiritual practice traditional to China that dates back to the beginning of Chinese history. You could compare qigong to the Chinese version of India’s yoga.
Before 1999, stories of people who started learning Falun Gong and regained their health were widespread in China, and people travelled great distances to listen to Falun Gong's founder, Li Hongzhi, teach the principles of Falun Gong.
The practice quickly grew to 100 million practitioners inside China in 7 short years.
A Positive Impact
Thousands of new people were starting to practice every day, with exercise sites having thousands of people practicing every morning and night.
Soon everyone came to know about Falun Gong. Chinese practitioners would walk with confidence knowing that they were lucky to have discovered such a true, upright teaching. Falun Gong was even practiced and respected by high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and officials.
Some reports at that time said that the health improvements experienced by the tens of millions of practitioners had benefited the state’s stressed healthcare system.
Falun Gong brought countless benefits to Chinese society. It seemed that many people's hearts were becoming good again.
The Persecution of Falun Gong
Prior to the persecution that began on 20 July 1999, CCP agents secretly investigated Falun Gong with instances of undercover agents infiltrating the group. However, after two investigations – in 1994 and in 1997 – the CCP concluded that Falun Gong was simply a meditation group that improves physical health and moral values. An investigation intended to find evidence against the practice ended in vain. (Read Why Did China Persecute These Seemingly Peaceful Falun Gong Meditators?)
Other than volunteers who wanted to help spread the practice of Falun Gong, there were no official paid jobs or positions and the practice had a strict rule of no money involved.
The popularity and independence of Falun Gong frustrated Jiang Zemin, the CCP leader at the time, and in July 1999 he instigated a ruthless persecution intended to eliminate the practice in 3 months.
This brutal crackdown had never ceased and practitioners in China have been imprisoned, sentenced to brainwashing and forced labor, and been subjected to various types of extremely cruel torture methods.
All this to stop a practice that teaches people to be good, moral, and upright people in society. The evil nature of the CCP just couldn't allow something so good in its morally depraved society.
Falun Gong is Good
After almost 3 decades of persecution, Falun Gong is practised all over the world and is known by millions of people to be a good and upright practice. Practitioners outside China freely and openly practice Falun Gong.
In this large scale character-formation event in Taipei, Taiwan, the Chinese characters under the Falun symbol are “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” the central teaching of Falun Gong (Credit: Minghui.org)
It is an amazing story of a group of people who have been peacefully resisting the terror of the Chinese Communist Party for so many years. And against all odds, the practice is still flourishing.
We hope you enjoyed reading this post.
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