"Falun Gong Is a Cult''
---- A Commentary by a Specially Invited
Commentator from the People's Daily
(October 28, 1999)

On July 22, 1999, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs declared that the ``Falun Dafa Research Society" and the ``Falun Gong'' organizations under its leadership were illegal and should be banned in accordance with the law. Then, what kind of illegal organization is ``Falun Gong,'' after all?

For a few years prior to the ban, Li Hongzhi had been a very "capable" man. Driven by ulterior motives, he plotted behind the scenes, issued orders and decrees one after another, ordering practitioners across China to gather together to besiege and harass government organizations, enterprises and institutions here and there, and eventually to the point of besieging Zhongnanhai, the seat of the Chinese government. Large numbers of practitioners came and went at his command, as if under a magic spell. Under the pernicious influence of ``Falun Gong,'' thousands of practitioners found their families disintegrated and themselves deranged, and some even committed suicide. Despite that, these practitioners believed they had attained all-round fulfillment in so doing. When the fraudulent nature of Li Hongzhi's teachings was fully revealed, ``Falun Gong'' organizations fell apart, and the absolute majority of ``Falun Gong'' practitioners became determined to make a clean break with their past. However, a handful of practitioners, who were still deluded and entranced by ``Falun Gong'''s deceitful doctrines, and who refused to face the appalling facts of the tragedies that belief in it had caused, persisted in allowing themselves to be controlled by Li Hongzhi from afar, and continued to "defend" and sacrifice themselves for ``Falun Gong'' in spite of repeated persuasion. How on earth can ``Falun Gong'' exert so strong an evil influence on its followers' minds?

Only a cult exhibits such features. A lot of evidence shows that ``Falun Gong'' is no ordinary illegal organization, but in fact a cult in the true sense of the word. In short, ``Falun Gong'' is nothing but a cult. Li Hongzhi closely guarded the secret of ``Falun Gong'' as a cult by claiming on many occasions that ``Falun Gong'' is "neither heretical nor religious, certainly not a cult.'' This is just like a guilty man giving himself away by overly protesting his innocence. If we strip ``Falun Gong'' of all its ostentatious and pretentious trappings, all the salient features of a cult will be revealed.

1. Hierarchical Structure

One prominent feature of a cult is its hierarchical structure, through which practitioners strictly follow the instructions of the leader of the organization, and are willing to sacrifice themselves for this spiritual leader. Just like such cult leaders as Jim Jones (the People's Temple), David Koresh (Branch Davidians) and Shoko Asahara (Aum Shinrikyo), who boasted that they were God or God incarnate, Li Hongzhi brags that he is able to "transport and fix things, exercise mind control and make himself invisible" and even able to postpone the explosion of the Earth. He claims to be the Savior who "will transport mankind to the heavenly kingdom" and "bring mankind to a bright world." He made the preposterous statement that, "in the present world, only I preach the true law" and " if I cannot help you, then nobody can help you." He has gone so far as to boast that he is superior to Lao Zi (the founder of Taoism), Sakyamuni (Buddha) and Jesus Christ, and whatever he says is infallible scripture. He demands that people believe in him as the almighty Savior and practice ``Falun Gong'' under his direction for no other purposes but to control these practitioners' minds, manipulate them as he likes and collect money. Influenced by his deceptive remarks and ideas, the ``Falun Gong'' disciples who worship him and put themselves at his beck and call tend to think, act and even give their lives at his command.

2. Mind Control

Mind control is a basic means used by a cult head to consolidate his "divine" position and keep his disciples loyal to him. In exercising control over the minds of ``Falun Gong'' practitioners, Li Hongzhi takes three steps: enticing, brainwashing and intimidating. He entices his disciples with the bait of physical fitness and under the signboard of truthfulness, benevolence and tolerance, preaching that by practicing ``Falun Gong'' one can not only avoid illness, keep fit and cultivate one's mind but also can benefit one's relatives and friends. Then he demands that they "learn the Dafa (Great Law)" by rote and by copying what they are taught to do and say, and make a thorough break with all other theories and drive them away from their minds, so that they become obsessed with ``Falun Gong.'' Besides, Li Hongzhi preaches that, being omnipresent, he can travel to many levels of space, protect his disciples, and monitor their minds and behavior. Thus he succeeds in gaining absolute obedience from his disciples, who think that they will prosper if they follow his instructions; otherwise they will die. Such mind control constitutes invisible shackles used to exercise organizational and bodily control over the practitioners. As a result, the practitioners become depressed and stupefied, and lose their sense of responsibility for their families while devoting themselves morbidly to the "cultivation" and "promotion of the Dafa." Li Hongzhi often says, "You can come and go as you like." However, he knows clearly that once their minds are controlled, the practitioners will never be able to tear themselves away from ``Falun Gong.'' At the same time, they are exhorted to "promote the Dafa" and introduce more people to the organization in order to show their piety and pursue "all-round fulfillment." On July 4, 1998, on the way to Sanya to "promote the Dafa", seven ``Falun Gong'' practitioners from Haikou died and one was injured in a traffic accident. In a letter to Jiang Xiaojun, one of the practitioners who witnessed the tragedy, Li Hongzhi said, "Only those disciples who have gone to the world of the Falun (Wheel of the Law) can achieve all-round fulfillment. I know your heart is broken, but when you read this letter those eight disciples will have achieved fulfillment in a different world." It is with such evil skills that Li Hongzhi propels his disciples to the world of the Falun. And that is why ``Falun Gong'' has spread like a plague and the ``Falun Gong'' organization has grown in strength.

3. Fabricating Heretical Ideas

Every cult head fabricates heretical ideas to deceive and entrap the people. To expand the ``Falun Gong'' organization and realize his covert objectives, Li Hongzhi made up a series of heretical ideas, such as the "doomsday" theory and the ``explosion of the Earth'' fallacy, so as to frighten his disciples into following his instructions without question. Li Hongzhi lies that "all the periodic extinctions of human society in prehistory occurred when humanity plunged into total depravity," despising mankind as "depraved" and "hopeless,'' and spreads rumors about "catastrophe for mankind" and "impending doomsday." In addition, he also says, "Mankind will be destroyed 81 times," declaring that the Earth will explode, that only he can postpone the explosion and transport mankind to heaven, and that only ``Falun Gong'' is the "supernatural way" of saving the entire human race. In the past few years, oppressed by the threat of the "doomsday" theory and the ``explosion of the Earth'' fallacy, many ``Falun Gong'' practitioners have committed suicide or gone mad, and some of them have even killed their relatives, friends or others. Notwithstanding his utter ignorance of religion and modern science and technology, Li Hongzhi cobbles together many terms taken from Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and modern science and technology for his sinister purposes.

There is a general tendency for cults worldwide to take advantage of ordinary people's concern with ways to keep fit and combat illness. Some cults have established themselves by offering "a panacea for all diseases," some have claimed to be able to exorcise diseases by means of witchcraft, and so on and so forth. In the process, they have extorted large amounts of money out of their gullible followers. Whatever their guises, they all employ the camouflage of "curing diseases" to lure their victims. Li Hongzhi is no exception: He trumpets the absurd claim that one does not need to see a doctor or take medicine if one practices ``Falun Gong'' or acquires "Falun Dafa". At the same time, he instructs his henchmen to falsify records so that they purport to show that "illnesses have been cured by receipt of the Gong (force or energy)." The practitioners are instigated to discuss on a daily basis what they are supposed to have learned from practicing ``Falun Gong,'' that is "belief is effect, and practice leads to benefit.'' Under the harmful influence of these false ideas, some sick practitioners deceived themselves by assuming that the ``Falun Gong'' rituals would cure them, and as a result refused to take medicine and stopped consulting doctors. Some died because of delayed medical treatment. Incomplete statistics show that more than 1,400 people across China have died as a result of practicing ``Falun Gong,'' and over 100 practitioners have suffered psychological distress, as shown by the records of seven hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province and Shandong Province. It is a great pity that these victims who started to practice ``Falun Gong'' for the sake of physical fitness surrendered their rights to health and life to Li Hongzhi, the preacher and manipulator of ``Falun Gong.'' The series of heretical ideas fabricated by Li Hongzhi have caused sickness, madness, physical impairment and even deaths. Does not this amount to crimes? ``Falun Gong'' is an extreme example of the absurdity and harmfulness of cults.