Falun Gong: Cult Invading United States!

Many of you are already aware that nearly ten years ago, the Chinese banned a dangerous cult: Falun Gong.

It has been gaining adherents right here, in the United States!

A History of Falun Gong

The “ancient” cult of Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is nearly as old as the venerated Wicca, having been started by a Northern Chinese waiter named Li Hongzhi in the early 1990s.

Tagging onto the then-growing popularity of Qigong, a form of moving meditation not unlike Tai Chi, Hongzhi crafted his very own New Age cult. Onto this fertile rootstock, he grafted Buddhist breathing exercises and Taoist philosophy. The result? Falun, or “Wheel of Law”, which he called the “path to perfection”.

The Chinese people, long separated from their traditional demon-worship by the Communist Party, leapt into this cult with astonishing vigor. In a few short years, Falun Gong followers matched the Communist Party in numbers.

Shortly after Shanghai television announced that Falun Gong had over 70 million Chinese followers, Hongzhi left China for the United States. And just in time!

1999 came, and the Communist Party announced its findings about Falun Gong . . . that the exercises were dangerous, causing insanity, and inducing suicide among the young!

Cultists were outraged, and began holding massive protests. In July of 1999, the Party took the only step it could, banning the cult.

It’s just some meditation, what’s the big deal?

That’s what I thought.

Tell me, if it was “just meditation”, why would people be willing to be arrested, and imprisoned, and beaten, and tortured over it? Why not just take up yoga instead, or maybe Pilates?

Clearly, there is more to the “path to perfection” than Li Hongzhi is letting on.

Rick Ross, respected expert on cults, provides his assessment:

Definition of a Cult

Noted psychiatrist and author Robert Jay Lifton developed the following definition of a cult. This definition is focused primarily upon three principal criteria and was first published in a paper titled “Cult Formation” in 1981 :

a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power;

a process of coercive persuasion or thought reform;

economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Falun Dafa and Lifton’s three criteria

* A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship.

Exclusive claims made by Li Hongzhi, which are implicitly accepted by Falun Dafa practitioners without exception, are the defining principles of the group.

For example, “Master Li” purportedly possesses supernatural powers.

Mr. Li claims to know “the top secret of the universe” and says “no religion can save people” but the “almighty Fa,” which he exclusively represents. He is therefore essentially the chosen savior of man. The biography in his book “Zhuan Falun” claims that he first recognized his special powers at the age of 8.

Li Hongzhi’s teachings also include the spinning “falun,” which is a mystical “wheel of law” that he claims to be able to insert into his disciples’ abdomens telekinetically.

Such fantastic and exclusive claims about a leader fit the classic profile of a personality-driven cult.

Falun Dafa followers, believe that Li Hongzhi is always right and they are not allowed to question the basic assumptions concerning his purported supernatural powers, teachings and/or opinions. His authority and infallibility appear to be absolute for the true believer, and therefore beyond what Falun Dafa followers consider reasonable doubt.

* a process of coercive persuasion or thought reform

Sociologist Richard J. Ofshe explains, “Coercive persuasion and thought reform are alternate names for programs of social influence capable of producing substantial behavior and attitude change through the use of coercive tactics, persuasion, and/or interpersonal and group-based influence manipulations.”

This is accomplished according to Ofshe by “intense interpersonal and psychological attack to destabilize an individual’s sense of self” and “to promote conformity” within the framework of “an organized peer group.”

Li Hongzhi through Falun Gong has promoted unreasonable fears about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions. He teaches his followers that the earth would have been destroyed, but he saved it. He also claims that “gods” will destroy those he disapproves of and that his followers must practice his prescribed program of “spiritual cultivation” or risk obliteration.

For Falun Gong followers, there is no legitimate reason to disagree with and/or leave the organization. Former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative, or even seen as “evil.” While they may appear to be free to leave they often fear the consequences.

…

Li Hongzhi’s program of coercive persuasion largely relies upon the cultivation not only of unreasonable fears but also prejudice, which ultimately serves to isolate and control his followers . . .

In Mr. Li’s worldview mixed-race people are part of a plot, contrived by the evil extraterrestrials. “By mixing the races of humans, the aliens make humans cast off gods,” he told a gathering in Switzerland in 1998.

…

According to Mr. Li, the offspring of mixed race unions are therefore “intellectually incomplete” or “with an incomplete body.” In such cases, only he, Master Li, can help and “take care of it” (i.e., resolve the “incomplete” state). However, that can be done only if “such a person wants to practice cultivation.”

Li Hongzhi also encourages hatred of homosexuals. He has said, “The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time,” Li Hongzhi wrote in Volume II of “Zhuan Falun,” or “Turning the Law Wheel,” which was translated into English in 1996.

In his talk in Switzerland, Li Hongzhi also stated that gay people would be “eliminated” by “the gods.” Asked in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1998 whether gays could practice Falun Gong, Mr. Li answered, “You can cultivate, but you must give up the bad conduct.”

Li Hongzhi’s disciples are taught to subordinate their own thoughts and feelings to the teachings of Falun Dafa. They essentially come to believe that “Master Li” has arranged everything and is their protection.

. . .

* exploitation of group members by the leader

Former Falun Dafa followers, the families of devotees and others concerned often relate the same allegations of abuse, which reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

Mr. Li teaches his followers that illness is caused by the evil deeds of a sick person, in this life or a previous one. According to his teachings, modern medicine treats only the symptoms of a disease, and not its underlying spiritual cause, which can be cured only by practicing Falun Gong.

“The only way to find yourself comfortably free of illnesses,” Li Hongzhi writes in “Zhuan Falun,” “is through cultivation practice!”

The complaints I have received about Falun Dafa are most often directly related to teachings about “spiritual cultivation,” which may preclude seeing a doctor and/or taking prescribed medication.

As a result of such teachings some of Mr. Li’s followers have reportedly died due to medical neglect, while many others have needlessly exacerbated their medical conditions.

If you think these excerpts were long . . . There’s much more at Rick Ross’s site.

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Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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