Falun Gong

[raptureme]

I saw these guys protesting outside of the chinese consulate as I drove to work this morning.

Anyone know what the deal with these guys is ?

Seems very widespread these days amongst asians, I know my local shop keeper is into it.

[Sing4Him]

Falun Gong or Falun Dafa is a spiritual practice founded in China by Li Hongzhi （李洪志） in 1992.[1] It has five sets of meditation exercises and seeks to develop practitioners' hearts and character according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (真，善，忍）, articulated in the main books Falun Gong （法輪功） and Zhuan Falun （轉法輪）.[2][3] The teachings deal with issues such as "cultivation of virtue and character", "moral standards for different levels", and "salvation of all sentient beings." The books, lectures, and exercise materials have been translated into over 40 languages and are available on the Internet free of charge.....


According to the biography which appeared as an appendix to Zhuan Falun, Li Hongzhi had been taught ways of "cultivation practice" (xiulian) by several masters of the Dao and Buddhist schools of thought from a very young age. This biography says that he was trained by Quan Jue, the 10th Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School, at age four. He was then trained by a Taoist master at age eight. This master left him at age twelve, and he was then trained by a master of the Great Way School with the Taoist alias of True Taoist, who came from the Changbai Mountains.[31

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong

roots in eastern mysticism! :tsk

[raptureme]

Sounds evil.

Thanks

[JoelH]

There is also a political dimension to it as well. Historically in Chinese history when a dynasty became corrupt and tyrannical there would be a group of people who plan rebellion in the name of folk religion. The Communists are dead afraid of the Falun Gong because of the parallel to it. It is officially "eradicated" but I understand there are quite a few Beijing insiders that sympathise with their right to practise.

The Epoch Times is said to be affiliated with Falun Gong and I do read their political news - politically wise that paper is like any other Chinese political dissident/democracy campaign supporter newspaper. Don't read any of the "spiritual" stuff and you will be safe - to me the "spiritual" stuff seemed to be a rehash of traditional Chinese folk religion that had been pushed aside by the Communists.