"Falun Gong'' Is an Out-and-Out Cult

Since the 1970s, thousands upon thousands of "new religions'' have sprung up in the Western countries. Among them, one calling itself Cult perpetrated a series of vicious earth-shaking events through extremist and harmful activities, bringing great disaster to many families and individuals. This phenomenon became a pestilence in international society. For example, 914 followers of the People's Temple of the United States, instigated by Jim Jones, the founder of the cult, committed mass suicide by taking poison in a tropical forest in Guyana in 1978. In 1993, directed by David Koresh, the founder of the sect, 86 followers of the Branch Davidians burned themselves to death after 51 days and nights of confrontation with the authorities. In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo adherents released sarin gas into the Tokyo subway at the height of the morning rush hour, killing 12 people and injuring 5,000. In Switzerland, France and Canada 74 followers of the Solar Temple committed mass suicide at the orders of the founder of the cult, in 1994, 1996 and 1997, respectively. In addition, 38 followers of Heaven's Gate committed mass suicide in three groups in three days together with their founder before the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet.

Through the study of cult organizations, we can conclude that the common characteristics of cult organizations are as follows: worship of the founder, spiritual control, fabrication and spread of fallacies, secret formation of associations, defrauding money and harming society.

--All the heads of cult organizations worm their way into their followers' confidence by boasting and lying, and calling themselves ``deities.'' They ask their followers to pay homage to them and to obey them absolutely. Their followers go out of their way to glorify the leaders and do their best to establish their absolute ``authority.'' It seems that they have lost their senses and are crazy in doing these things. As a result, many people believe these fallacies and unconditionally follow these fraudulent leaders. The followers are ready to offer their property, knowledge and even their bodies to the leader by disabling and killing themselves, to the point of committing crimes jeopardizing people and society, as a whole.

--In order to achieve their evil goal of absolute mind control, the heads of cults always play the trick of insisting that ``if you believe in it, it will work, but if you don't believe in it, it won't work,'' to make them believe unquestioningly whatever they are told. The heads of the cult organizations usually unfold a mental offensive against their followers, asking them to examine their deepest feelings, ideologies and belief. They persuade them that this is the way to fully recognize their past wrongdoings and choose the right path, and then become ``new persons'' following the heads of the cults closely. They believe whatever the heads say. In this way, these followers gradually lose their senses and ability to tell right from wrong. They are completely obsessed by whatever the cult leaders tell them. At last, they become mentally deranged and suffer from psychoneurosis.

--All the heads of cult organizations fabricate fallacies by flaunting the banner of religion to make their followers awestruck. Like the other cults, ``Falun Gong'' also advocates a ``doomsday'' theory. In this way, the head of the cult can order the followers to do anything, if they wish to avoid destruction.

--All cults are well organized and have their own secretive ways of communication. They secretly carry out illegal activities. Outsiders cannot know what is going on inside the organizations, and even the ordinary followers are kept in the dark. The cult heads have supreme power, and under them there are organizations at different levels. They are rigidly stratified and disciplined. The followers must obey their cult leaders absolutely. As the saying goes, it is easy to board a pirate ship, but difficult to get off it. As soon as a person joins a cult organization, he or she cannot easily withdraw from it; otherwise he or she will be intimidated, threatened, or even kidnapped or killed as a renegade.

--The heads of the modern cults are bloodsuckers and upstarts who collect money by illegal means. They demand that their followers give them their money and property, or collect exorbitant fees for various ``classes'' or ``counseling.'' They force their followers to buy their publications and video-audio products. In addition, some cult organizations ask their followers to hand over parts of their incomes or even to go out and solicit contributions from society by various means. Some even run banks, shops and factories, which earn huge amounts of money for them.

--All cults have the evil nature of being anti-science, anti-humanity, anti-society and anti-government, and cause serious harm to society. They commit all kinds of crimes, such as getting money by fraud, raping, hiding arms, smuggling munitions, making poisonous gas, collecting information, evading taxes, releasing poison, setting fires, opposing the government, and harming innocent persons-in fact, committing every crime imaginable.

In a word, we can say that all cult organizations are illegal organizations. They are established in the name of religion, health enhancement or others, and deify their heads through spreading fallacies to realize their goal of complete control over their followers. In fact they have the nature of being secret associations and are harmful to society.

II

``Falun Gong'' has the nature of a cult organization, just like other cults worldwide. So we are sure that it is a cult through and through.

1. ``Falun Gong'' is established in the name of region and Qigong.

Li Hongzhi made his fortune under the guise of practicing Qigong. When he gave lectures in the early period he always talked about Qigong. But his exercises cannot cure illnesses, nor make people healthy. On the other hand, he often belittled the role of Qigong. He often said, ``Qigong is at a low level, and you don't have to practice it''. ``We shall practice from a high-level starting point. We won't mention Qigong any more.''

Li Hongzhi filched scientific terms and cobbled together the name ``Falun Dafa.'' We should point out that Li Hongzhi on the one hand uses scientific terms to cover up his fallacies and mislead his followers; on the other hand, he defames and opposes science. He once said that ``Darwin's theory of man evolving from the anthropoid ape is a joke.'' He also said that modern science and knowledge had gone to the extreme and could not be developed further. Modern science and knowledge cannot solve social problems even if they are further developed, he has claimed. All famous personages, including scientists, scholars and specialists, are insignificant, according to him. So that means that only he himself, the great ``master,'' can rescue mankind, by means of ``Falun Gong.''

Li Hongzhi claims that his ''Falun Gong'' is the ``law of Buddha'', and he has elaborately designed a sign showing a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism. In addition, his heretical ideas, such as ``doomsday,'' ``wheels of law,'' ``law-bodies'' and ``karma'' have the guise of religious words and terms, though he insists that ``we haven't gone into the field of religion,'' and ``there is no such kind of religion.'' So we can see clearly that he only uses words and terms from various religions, especially Buddhism, to deceive people.

2. ``Falun Gong'' has defied Li Hongzhi, making him an object of worship.

Like other cult organizations, ``Falun Gong'' has defied Li Hongzhi, making him an object of worship. Li Hongzhi fabricated his background in 1993, saying, ``I was born in Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province, on May 13, 1951. When I was a child, Master Quan Jue gave me secret instructions to turn me into a Buddhist believer. I achieved all-round fulfillment when I was eight years old.'' ``At the age of 12, Taoist Master Baji Zhenren (Eight-Pole Immortal) taught me Taoist practices. In 1972, I received Taoist instructions, from Master Zhendaozi (True Taoist), and in 1974, I received further training in Buddhist cultivation, and returned to public life.'' In fabricating his life story, Li changed his date of birth from July 7, 1952 to May 13, 1951, because in the Chinese lunar calendar, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month is believed to be the birthday of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, and May 13, 1951 happened to be such a day. Li intended to indicate that he was a ``reincarnation of Sakyamuni.'' Then he boasted that he was superior to Sakyamuni, Lao Zi and Jesus Christ as well, and that he was the only person in the world who could make people ascend to a higher level than the present world. He said that he had made a ``ladder for people to climb up to Heaven,'' and that he was the only savior who could ``bring mankind to a bright world by offering prayers.'' That is why his disciples worship him and believe whatever he said.

3. Control the minds of ``Falun Gong'' practitioners.

Li Hongzhi has adopted all sorts of heretical means to control the minds of ``Falun Gong'' practitioners. He pretended to be concerned about their illnesses and promised that his ``Falun Dafa'' could cure their diseases. So people flocked to practice ``Falun Gong.'' Then, in order to make the practitioners have total faith in ``Falun Dafa'' and abide by the doctrines of his heretical cult Li Hongzhi ordered the practitioners to reject all other thoughts, books, beliefs, and even science and medicine. They had to read his books only. If anyone questioned ``Falun Gong,'' he would say that the person was not sincere and force him or her to carry out self-examination over and over again until at last the person was brainwashed and would do what he said without hesitation. Li Hongzhi advocates the theory of imminent ``doomsday'' and ``explosion of the earth'' to threaten his followers, causing them endless worries. He also claims that he has ``law-bodies,'' which can watch the practitioners individually and do other things. So many practitioners of ``Falun Gong'' believed that Li Hongzhi's ``law-bodies'' were watching them all the time.

4. Advocating heretical ideas.

Like other cult heads, Li Hongzhi has preached his heretical ideas and fallacies on every possible occasion. He hawks the theory of ``doomsday'' by declaring that mankind has come to the brink of destruction. He asserts that the other religions and awakened wise men ``will not help'' and governments ``are unable to control this.'' Only Li Hongzhi himself can control and postpone the ``explosion of the earth.'' He also claims that diseases are ``karma retribution'' and forbids his followers to consult doctors or take medicine when they are ill. Li Hongzhi uses ``karma retribution'' to express the concept of retribution for sin. He preaches that ``the basic cause of all illness and misfortune is karma.'' ``Disease and death are preordained,'' he claims. ``They are karma retributions. Once you owe debts, you have to repay them.'' ``Illness is caused by karma. If one cannot get one's karma dispelled, one's illness can never be cured completely. Only by practicing `Falun Gong' can karma be dispelled.'' Furthermore, ``those who sincerely practice `Falun Gong' will not fall sick or encounter danger.'' ``The power achieved by practicing `Falun Gong' can automatically eliminate viruses and karma. Medicines are not able to cure diseases. One who passes this barrier will become a superman.'' And ``those who urge you to see doctors are `evil spirits.' You have to resist their blandishments.'' Deceived and misled by Li Hongzhi's heretical fallacies, quite a number of ``Falun Gong'' practitioners refused to go to hospital for medical treatment or for medication when they fell ill. Some died tragically because of delayed treatment. There were still others who developed mental disorders, and some committed suicide. Others even turned into brutal killers, slaying their parents, brothers, wives, sons or daughters as a result of practicing ``Falun Gong.''

5. A secret association.

Li Hongzhi has always denied that ``Falun Gong'' is well organized. He said, `` `Falun Gong' is passed from people to people and from heart to heart through informal management.'' But facts have proved that ``Falun Gong,'' like the other cults, is well-organized. So it can control its followers and carry out illegal activities. Li established the ``Falun Dafa Research Society'' in Beijing, the top national organ of the ``Falun Gong'' organization, with himself as its president and the sole authority. The ``Falu Dafa Research Society'' set up 39 general instruction stations, more than 1,900 ordinary instruction centers and 28,000-odd practice sites throughout the country. The heads and core members of the instruction centers are approved and appointed by its higher-level organization. If someone is not doing well at a post, the head of his or her higher-level organization has the right to dismiss that person. A series of internal rules and regulations make it easy for ``Falun Gong'' members to carry out illegal activities in a well-organized manner. In addition, they also use modern means to spread rumors, issue orders and plot criminal activities. They began to establish ``Falun Gong'' stations in the United States and Canada in 1995, and they began to issue information via the Internet. Then ``Falun Gong'' stations were established in other countries, forming an international network. Li Hongzhi can issue a secret order via the Internet, and it will reach every practitioner of ``Falun Gong'' within a few days.

6. Using ``Falun Gong'' to amass dirty money and committing economic crimes.

Li Hongzhi has illegally reaped a large amount of money by using ``Falun Gong,'' and committed economic crimes of tax evasion and money laundering. According to the initial investigation by related departments, from May 1992 to the end of 1994, Li Hongzhi and his collaborators, under the pretext of holding ''Falun Gong'' training classes, collected more than RMB 3 million yuan through running 56 sessions of such classes. They paid no tax on the overwhelming part of the money. The major source of Li Hongzhi's illegal income was the production, publication, distribution and sale of books, and audio and video tapes, as well as clothing and other articles needed for the practice of ``Falun Gong.'' The Wuhan Shenshen Group Corporation, run by the head of the Wuhan ``Falun Gong'' General Station, reaped an income of more than 90 million yuan through illegally publishing ``Falun Gong''-related books and audio-visual materials. According to the contract the corporation signed with Li Hongzhi, it was to turn eight percent of the total listed price of those publications over to him after paying the regular fees for writing and proofreading. According to a reliable source, Li Hongzhi has huge savings deposits outside China, and has committed crimes of tax evasion and money laundering. He has bought houses, cars, and green cards for residing abroad and obtained passports. It is reported that Li Hongzhi also frequents gambling dens and places of ill repute abroad.

7. Seriously disrupting public order.

``Falun Gong'' is an anti-social illegal organization, which has seriously undermined the normal public order. Li Hongzhi and his ``Falun Gong'' organization have wantonly sabotaged the implementation of state laws and regulations. About a hundred illegal gatherings have been organized by them, besieging media and publishing establishments, Party and government organs. In order to achieve his political ambition, Li Hongzhi and his ``Falun Gong'' organization instigated practitioners of ``Falun Gong'' to besiege Zhongnanhai, the seat of the Central Government. At the same time, they stole confidential documents and illegally collected important state information for their sinister aim. Li Hongzhi's heretical fallacies have left thousands of people disabled, dead or mentally disordered and a great number of families disintegrated. According to incomplete statistics, more than 1,400 people have died as a result of practicing ``Falun Gong.''

The facts mentioned above fully prove that Li Hongzhi's ``Falun Gong'' disrupts public order, undermines social stability, harms lives and property, and engages in law-breaking activities. Compared with cults in other countries, ``Falun Gong'' is larger in scale, and its consequences are even more serious. It is a heretical cult in the true sense of the term.

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