Falun Gong In The United States

Author : Noah Porter
Publisher : Universal-Publishers
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9781581121902

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Falun Gong in the United States by Noah Porter Pdf

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, has been described in many ways. It has been called qigong, one of many schools of physical exercises that aim at improving health and developing supernatural abilities. Scholars and mainstream media have referred it to as a spiritual movement or religion, although practitioners claim it is not a religion. It has been called a cult, in the pejorative sense rather than in a sociological context, by the Chinese government and by some Western critics. In the writings of Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, it is referred to in different ways, though primarily as a cultivation practice. The question of how to define Falun Gong is not just an academic issue; the use of the cult label has been used to justify the persecution of practitioners in China. To a limited degree, the Chinese Government is able to extend the persecution overseas. How society defines Falun Gong has implications for action on the level of policy, as well as the shaping of social, cultural, and personal attitudes. This research project addresses what Falun Gong is through ethnography. Research methods included participant-observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews (both in-person and on-line), and content analysis of text and visual data from Falun Gong books, pamphlets, and websites. Research sites included Tampa, Washington D.C., and cyberspace. In order to keep my research relevant to the issues and concerns of the Falun Gong community, I was in regular contact with the Tampa practitioners, keeping them abreast of my progress and asking for their input. My findings are contrary to the allegations made by the Chinese Government and Western anti-cultists in many ways. Practitioners are not encouraged to rely on Western medicine, but are not prohibited from using it. Child practitioners are not put at risk. Their organizational structure is very loose. Finally, the Internet has played a vital role in Falun Gong's growth and continuation after the crackdown.

Author : David Ownby
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2008-04-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0199716374

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Falun Gong and the Future of China by David Ownby Pdf

On April 25, 1999, ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered outside Zhongnanhai, the guarded compound where China's highest leaders live and work, in a day-long peaceful protest of police brutality against fellow practitioners in the neighboring city of Tianjin. Stunned and surprised, China's leaders launched a campaign of brutal suppression against the group which continues to this day. This book, written by a leading scholar of the history of this Chinese popular religion, is the first to offer a full explanation of what Falun Gong is and where it came from, placing the group in the broader context of the modern history of Chinese religion as well as the particular context of post-Mao China. Falun Gong began as a form of qigong, a general name describing physical and mental disciplines based loosely on traditional Chinese medical and spiritual practices. Qigong was "invented" in the 1950s by members of the Chinese medical establishment who were worried that China's traditional healing arts would be lost as China modeled its new socialist health care system on Western biomedicine. In the late 1970s, Chinese scientists "discovered" that qi possessed genuine scientific qualities, which allowed qigong to become part of China's drive for modernization. With the support of China's leadership, qigong became hugely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, as charismatic qigongqigong boom, the first genuine mass movement in the history of the People's Republic. Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi started his own school of qigong in 1992, claiming that the larger movement had become corrupted by money and magic tricks. Li was welcomed into the qigong world and quickly built a nationwide following of several million practitioners, but ran afoul of China's authorities and relocated to the United States in 1995. In his absence, followers in China began to organize peaceful protests of perceived media slights of Falun Gong, which increased from the mid-'90s onward as China's leaders began to realize that they had created, in the qigong boom, a mass movement with religious and nationalistic undertones, a potential threat to their legitimacy and control. Based on fieldwork among Chinese Falun Gong practitioners in North America and on close examinations of Li Hongzhi's writings, this volume offers an inside look at the movement's history in Chinese popular religion.

Author : Li Hongzhi
Publisher : B Jain Publishers Pvt Limited
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2022-09
Category : Exercise
ISBN : 8131907503

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Falun Gong by Li Hongzhi Pdf

Falun Gong is an introductory text, systematically presenting the practice of Falun Gong. This book includes instructions and photo illustrations for performing the five sets of Falun Gong exercises. Falun Gong is a high-level cultivation practice guided by the characteristics of the universeTruthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance. Cultivation means continuously striving to better harmonize oneself with these universal principles. Practice refers to the exercises five sets of easy-to-learn gentle movements and meditation. Cultivating oneself is essential; practicing the exercises supplements the process.

Author : United States. Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 126 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Communism and religion
ISBN : MINN:31951D03670489X

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Falun Gong in China by United States. Congressional-Executive Commission on China Pdf

Author : Maria Hsia Chang
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 198 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2008-10-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780300133172

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Falun Gong by Maria Hsia Chang Pdf

The world first took notice of a religious group called Falun Gong on April 25, 1999, when more than 10,000 of its followers protested before the Chinese Communist headquarters in Beijing. Falun Gong investigates events in the wake of the demonstration: Beijing’s condemnation of the group as a Western, anti-Chinese force and doomsday cult, the sect’s continued defiance, and the nationwide campaign that resulted in the incarceration and torture of many Falun Gong faithful. Maria Hsia Chang discusses the Falun Gong’s beliefs, including their ideas on cosmology, humanity’s origin, karma, reincarnation, UFOs, and the coming apocalypse. She balances an account of the Chinese government’s case against the sect with an evaluation of the credibility of those accusations. Describing China’s long history of secret societies that initiated powerful uprisings and sometimes overthrew dynasties, she explains the Chinese government’s brutal treatment of the sect. And she concludes with a chronicle of the ongoing persecution of religious groups in China—of which Falun Gong is only one of many—and the social conditions that breed the popular discontent and alienation that spawn religious millenarianism.

Author : Danny Schechter
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : History
ISBN : UCSD:31822026843698

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Falun Gong's Challenge to China by Danny Schechter Pdf

The People's Republic of China has banned Falun Gong, a spiritual practice based on traditional exercises and mediation. What is Falun Gong's appeal and why does China fear it? These and other questions are addressed in this timely, inside look at a bizarre case of political repression.

Author : Benjamin Penny
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2012-04-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226655017

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The Religion of Falun Gong by Benjamin Penny Pdf

Concentrates on the beliefs and practices of Falun Gong members.

Author : United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Freedom of religion
ISBN : STANFORD:36105063581628

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Falun Gong and China's Continuing War on Human Rights by United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations Pdf

Author : United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Medical
ISBN : PSU:000058944554

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Falun Gong by United States. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Pdf

Author : James R. Lewis,Huang Chao
Publisher : Equinox Publishing (UK)
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1781794995

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Enlightened Martyrdom by James R. Lewis,Huang Chao Pdf

When it became evident that the People's Republic of China (PRC) was on the verge of banning the Falun Gong movement, Li Hongzhi, the movement's founder, and his family escaped China, relocating permanently in the United States. Subsequently, the dramatic crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999 made international headlines. From the safety of his new home, Master Li encouraged his followers left behind in the PRC to vigorously demonstrate against the Chinese government, even if it meant imprisonment or even death. Further, Master Li actively discourages his followers from telling outsiders about his esoteric teachings; rather, he explicitly directs them to say that Falun Gong is just a peaceful spiritual exercise group being persecuted by the PRC. Not only has Falun Gong succeeded in propagating their side of the story in the media but the group will vigorously protest any news story that disagrees with their point of view. In more recent years, Falun Gong has attempted to silence critical scholars, including two of the contributors to the present volume. Enlightened Martyrdom: The Hidden Side of Falun Gong provides a comprehensive overview of Falun Gong: the movement's background, history, beliefs and practices. But whereas prior treatments have generally tended to downplay Falun Gong's 'dark side, ' in Enlightened Martyrdom, we have made an effort to include treatments of the less palatable aspects of this movement.

Author : David Matas,David Kilgour
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Medical
ISBN : UIUC:30112113555178

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Bloody Harvest by David Matas,David Kilgour Pdf

Falun Gong is a modern day spiritual/exercise movement which began in China in 1991 drawing on and combining ancient Chinese traditions. The Chinese Communist Party, alarmed at the growth of the movement and fearing for its own ideological supremacy banned the movement in 1999. Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in the hundreds of thousands and asked to recant. If they did not, they were tortured. If they still did not recant, they disappeared. Allegations surfaced in 2006 that the disappeared were being killed for their organs which were sold for large sums mostly to foreign transplant tourists. It is generally accepted that China kills prisoners for organs. The debate is over whether the prisoners who are killed are only criminals sentenced to death or Falun Gong practitioners as well. The authors produced a report concluding that the allegations were true. Bloody Harvest sets out the investigations and conclusions of the authors.

Author : Margaret Trey
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2016-04-15
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 0997228105

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The Mindful Practice of Falun Gong by Margaret Trey Pdf

The Mindful Practice of Falun Gong marries research evidence with the art of storytelling. The book heralds the author's Hearts Uplifted project that aims to revive the lived experiences of individuals whose lives have been profoundly touched and transformed by Falun Gong-a spiritual meditation practice. Drawing from a labyrinth of research findings and the on-going study, the author effectively weaves facts from the academic inquiry with a compelling story of one woman's journey to wellness with Falun Gong. The book presents the results from the Australian survey-a doctoral study-that investigates the health-wellness effects of Falun Gong, as perceived by those who practice it.

Author : Richard Madsen
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2023-12-22
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780520920736

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China's Catholics by Richard Madsen Pdf

After suffering isolation and persecution during the Maoist era, the Catholic Church in China has reemerged with astonishing vitality in recent years. Richard Madsen focuses on this revival and relates it to the larger issue of the changing structure of Chinese society, particularly to its implications for the development of a "civil society." Madsen knows China well and has spent extensive time there interviewing Chinese Catholics both young and old, the "true believers" and the less devout. Their stories reveal the tensions that have arisen even as political control over everyday life in China has loosened. Of particular interest are the rural-urban split in the church, the question of church authority, and the divisions between public and underground practices of church followers. All kinds of religious groups have revived and flourished in the post-Mao era. Protestants, Buddhists, Daoists, practitioners of folk religions, even intellectuals seeking more secularized answers to "ultimate" concerns are engaged in spiritual quests. Madsen is interested in determining if such quests contain the resources for constructing a more humane political order in China. Will religion contribute to or impede economic modernization? What role will the church play in the pluralization of society? The questions he raises in China's Catholics are important not only for China's political future but for all countries in transition from political totalitarianism.

Author : United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Freedom of religion
ISBN : IND:30000053563510

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Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom by United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Pdf

Author : David A. Palmer
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2007-03-27
Category : History
ISBN : 0231511701

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Qigong Fever by David A. Palmer Pdf

Qigong a regimen of body, breath, and mental training exercises was one of the most widespread cultural and religious movements of late-twentieth-century urban China. The practice was promoted by senior Communist Party leaders as a uniquely Chinese healing tradition and as a harbinger of a new scientific revolution, yet the movement's mass popularity and the almost religious devotion of its followers led to its ruthless suppression. In this absorbing and revealing book, David A. Palmer relies on a combination of historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives to describe the spread of the qigong craze and its reflection of key trends that have shaped China since 1949, including the search for a national identity and an emphasis on the absolute authority of science. Qigong offered the promise of an all-powerful technology of the body rooted in the mysteries of Chinese culture. However, after 1995 the scientific underpinnings of qigong came under attack, its leaders were denounced as charlatans, and its networks of followers, notably Falungong, were suppressed as "evil cults." According to Palmer, the success of the movement proves that a hugely important religious dimension not only survived under the CCP but was actively fostered, if not created, by high-ranking party members. Tracing the complex relationships among the masters, officials, scientists, practitioners, and ideologues involved in qigong, Palmer opens a fascinating window on the transformation of Chinese tradition as it evolved along with the Chinese state. As he brilliantly demonstrates, the rise and collapse of the qigong movement is key to understanding the politics and culture of post-Mao society.