Fishing for Undeserved Fame, Li Poses as the
"Greatest Buddha in the Universe"

To deceive the general public, Li Hongzhi fabricated his life story by deifying himself with preposterous "magic deeds." He purposefully changed his date of birth from July 7, 1952 to May 13, 1951, and he personally altered his date of birth and acquired a new ID card. In the Chinese lunar calendar, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month is believed to be the birthday of Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism. May 13, 1951 happened to be such a day. Thus, by changing his date of birth, Li intended to indicate that he is "a reincarnation of Sakyamuni." He claimed that he "attained the superb Great Law at the age of eight, with great supernatural powers, such as the ability to move objects (without lifting a finger), fix articles (at any spot), control other people's thoughts and make himself invisible..., with energy potency reached an extremely high level, a complete understanding of the truth of the universe, having insights into life and being able to see the past and future of mankind." When asked by his cronies why he fabricated such a tall story, Li answered, "No one would believe me if I did not exaggerate a little bit."

(Compiled by New Star Publishers, Dec., 1999)