The Three Major Methods Adopted by Li Hongzhi to
Control "Falun Gong" Practitioners

By Xin Wen

"Eliminating karma," "going up to higher levels" and "attaining all-round fulfillment" are the three major means adopted by Li Hongzhi to control his "Falun Gong" practitioners. Li stresses that one must abandon all other pursuits to practice "Falun Gong," forgetting and rejecting the rules and concepts in the life of "ordinary people." At the same time, he demands that the practitioners devote themselves heart and soul to "eliminating karma" and "going up to higher levels" to "attain all-round fulfillment." What on earth do "eliminating karma," "going up to higher levels" and "attaining all-round fulfillment" mean?

First of all, what does "eliminating karma" mean?

Birth, old age, disease and death are an objective law. If one falls sick, one should consult a doctor and take medicine. However, Li Hongzhi claims that "the basic cause of all illnesses and misfortunes is karma." According to him, one will have karma, namely illness, if one does evil deeds. Then, what should one do about one's illness? "Taking medicine merely presses back karma, making it impossible to cleanse one's body, and therefore medicines are not able to cure diseases." "Those who sincerely practice 'Falun Gong' will not fall sick or encounter danger…Only they can really get free of illnesses."

How can one "eliminate karma" to cure one's illnesses and gain happiness? Li Hongzhi claims that the only way is to practice "Falun Gong." "If you don't practice it, you will die easily." How to practice it? Li Hongzhi said, "Study my theories, ready my books, watch my videotapes and listen to my audiotapes." He preached that merely practicing "Falun Gong" was not enough, one must read books and learn the Dafa (Great Law) by rote without a single omission and by copying without a single mistake. "If you make any mistake in copying, then copy it all over again."

Can "eliminating karma" in such a way cure illnesses? Impossible. A "Falun Gong" practitioner in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, who knew perfectly well he had severe heart disease and did not go to hospital for medical treatment as Li Hongzhi demanded, insisted upon the practicing of "Falun Gong" in the hope of curing his disease. However, he died in a fit of heart attack while practicing "Falun Gong." Another "Falun Gong" practitioner also refused to go to hospital and finally committed suicide while unable to bear the sufferings of ailment, hiding medicine in the bosom but daring not take it. According to rough statistics, to date, more than 1,500 "Falun Gong" practitioners have died as a result of believing in Li Hongzhi's "eliminating karma" theory and refusing medical treatment. However, how did Li Hongzhi cure his illnesses? Li had submitted a total of 73 bills for his and his daughter's medical treatment for reimbursement when he worked at the Changchun City Cereals and Oil Company, among which , 48 were his. In 1984, Li entered the hospital as suffering from acute festering appendicitis for an operation. These facts show that the means of "eliminating karma" to cure illness is not suitable to Li Hongzhi himself, and he dare not make a joke about his life.

Why does Li Hongzhi require others to "eliminate karma" since he is fully aware of the fact that it cannot cure ailments?

Li has told us the answer: Illness "is a test on you posed by 'Falun Gong'." "You never know what realm you want to achieve, so, how to achieve it? You can't do it by yourself. So long as you are determined to practice 'Falun Gong,' the Master [Li Hongzhi] will do the rest for you." It turns out to be a test on "Falun Gong" practitioners posed by Li Hongzhi: You never know whether you can "eliminate karma" or achieve the realm as I, Li Hongzhi, say. So long as you believe in me, make up your mind to practice "Falun Gong" and obey me, I will do the rest for you. These words expose the nature of Li Hongzhi's "eliminating karm" theory: "Eliminating karma" means being obedient to Li Hongzhi.

How to "go up to higher levels?"

Li Hongzhi claimed, "The human race falls down from the universe, level by level, onto the bottom level and leads a low-level life," and "The human world today is full of evils." Therefore, he told his followers that they must escape from where the human race is and ascend to higher levels level by level, and, "my purpose is to help you to ascend to higher levels."

To this end, Li Hongzhi demanded that his followers "promote and protect Falun Dafa." "Promoting the Dafa" means that "Falun Gong" practitioners should gather to recite books, listen to audiotapes, watch videotapes, and exchange information about the "magical influence" produced by doing Li Hongzhi's bidding, as well as recount the miraculous stories that "Falun Gong" practitioners won't die even hit by a mobile car and can recover from cancer overnight. Li Hongzhi told his followers, "'Falun Gong' practitioners should regard preaching the Dafa as their own responsibility," and "You should not preach those things affecting my Dafa or damaging the image of our Dafa." However, as more and more "Falun Gong" practitioners fall ill, become disabled or even die, it is inevitable for objective reports "affecting the Dafa or damaging the image of the Dafa" to emerge. What should they do? Li Hongzhi demanded that they should "protect the Dafa." He told his followers, "Some people with evil nature are spreading rumors to create trouble," "A man's heart will be revealed in the crucial moment," "Test will reveal a man's real nature," and "Don't be afraid. Your body will keep on meditating even if you get beheaded."

The time to "test" "Falun Gong" practitioners came. Some pious "Falun Gong" practitioners besieged relevant media and publishing establishments, local Party and government institutions and even Zhongnanhai, the seat of the central government in Beijing, to protect the Dafa, as Li Hongzhi would have them believe. After the incident of besieging the Beijing TV Station, Li Hongzhi warned his disciples because only a small number of people had participated in the siege: "Such chances to ascend to higher levels are few. The time has come to test you! If you yourselves don't want to go up to higher levels, nobody can bring you up there!"

However, there still were some practitioners who were reluctant to "protect the Dafa" because they doubted or did not believe what he said. Li Hongzhi threatened them, "In the past few years, some practitioners have died suddenly. Among them, some died as a result of not protecting the Dafa. You should know there are numerous deities at various levels whose duties are to protect the Dafa! There are demons who won't forgive you if you fail to defend the Dafa!"

So "ascending to higher levels" merely means strengthening one's faith in Li Hongzhi, creating disturbances and acting as a willing tool to enable Li to realize his own political purpose. Once you create a disturbance, you can ascend to a higher level. Otherwise, demons will come to take your life, still less will the Master's guardian deities let you off with impunity!

What is "all-round fulfillment?"

Li Hongzhi claimed, "One will become a Buddha, Taoist or immortal when he or she attains all-round fulfillment," and "Cultivation is the greatest thing in the universe. The whole human race should ascend to the realm in which they can become arhats, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, Taoists and immortals." What can one profit from attaining all-round fulfillment? "If you really attain all-round fulfillment, you have cultivated yourself into a very great deity…. You will find it as easy as blowing away dust to hold the Earth in your hand." Li said, promising his followers: "I will create a miracle for the human race. When you attain your fulfillment, I will let all the 'Dafa' disciples take their bodies and fly to the sky with them. If they don't want to keep their bodies, they can turn them into rainbows and then fly away. Human beings don't believe in the existence of deities, but I'll show them." Li Hongzhi claimed that he wanted to create millions of deities and Buddhas capable of holding the globe in their hands!

To this day, has any of Li Hongzhi's Dafa disciples attained all-round fulfillment and can they roam in space, with or without his or her body? According to Li, several persons did attain fulfillment. A former "Falun Gong" practitioner in Hainan Province recounted such an incident: "In July 1999, on the way to Sanya to 'promote the Dafa,' seven 'Falun Gong' practitioner from Haikou died and one was injured in a traffic accident. Among the dead, some had gone there to promote the Dafa before, saying that if one was a pious 'Falun Gong' follower, Li Hongzhi's law-bodies and wheel of the Law would protect him or her at all times from any danger. But they died. Lots of 'Falun Gong' practitioners were very concerned about this accident, and demanded an explanation from Li Hongzhi. Later, Li Hongzhi's 'scriptures' were brought to us, saying that the eight had attained all-round fulfillment in advance because of their merit in promoting the Dafa." It seems that it is not difficult to attain all-round fulfillment in that way. To pursue "all-round fulfillment, " Li Youlin, a farmer in Dongliao County, Jilin Province, committed suicide by hanging himself, and Li Jinzhong, a farmer in Tunliu County, Shanxi Province, burned himself to death. Lots of other "Falun Gong" practitioners have killed themselves by jumping from heights or into rivers, cutting their abdomens, or in other ways. These people, however, were declared to be "demons" by Li Hongzhi because they did not get his approval before attaining "all-round fulfillment."

"Attaining all-round fulfillment" means sacrificing one's life for Li Hongzhi. Or, in other words, if a "Falun Gong" practitioner followed Li Hongzhi faithfully and lost his life, it was explained as "having attained all-round fulfillment." That way, the problem of why Li's "law-bodies" had not protected the faithful was conveniently skirted. Naturally, it depends on Li Hongzhi's moods. If he is in a bad mood, he will declare that the dead person was a demon.

Even a fleeting analysis of Li Hongzhi's theories of "eliminating karma," "going up to higher levels" and "attaining all-round fulfillment" reveals that Li Hongzhi merely uses these heretical fallacies as camouflage to deceive "Falun Gong" practitioners into serving his ulterior purposes. These are the three major methods adopted by Li Hongzhi to mentally control "Falun Gong" practitioners.

(Excerpts from a Xinhua News Agency dispatch, May 15, 2000)