Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
Falun Gong and the dangerous, super-freaky side of Chinese spirituality.

Falun Gong and the dangerous, super-freaky side of Chinese spirituality.

Last updated on: October 31, 2013 at 4:13 pm by Tom Rapsas

Falun Gong and the dangerous, super-freaky side of Chinese spirituality. 2013-10-31T16:13:14-06:00 Tom Rapsas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I work in New York City not far from the United Nations and every so often I’ll stumble across a protest aimed at one foreign government or another. One day, while taking a walk at lunch, I came upon a group of 25-30 “protestors” that was strangely silent, no chanting like you sometimes hear at these gatherings and there was barely a placard in sight.

The group was mostly of Asian descent and had it not been for the steel barricades and police presence around them, I might have mistaken the group for Chinese tourists waiting on a tour bus. As I walked past them I was handed a slim newspaper. Its headline read:

STOP ORGAN HARVESTING IN CHINA

The protestors were affiliated with the spiritual group Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa). An accompanying subhead on the front page of the paper read: Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed for their organs in China and a story inside the paper was titled Chinese Doctor Admits Organs Available On-Demand from Falun Gong Adherents.

Could this be true? Is the Chinese government not only persecuting Falun Gong, but “harvesting them for their organs”?

A lot of people seem to think so. A former Canadian Secretary of State investigated the issue and came “to the regrettable conclusion that these allegations are true”. Over the past decade, several members of the US House of Representatives have introduced resolutions in support of Falun Gung, including one in June 2013 that states “serious allegations suggest unimaginable abuses have occurred”.

Online reports on the number of people killed for their organs varies widely, from a low of 9,000 to a high of 120,000. And of course, Chinese officials have denied it all. Yet at minimum, it does appear that “Falun Gong practitioners in China have been sentenced to long prison terms, faced arbitrary detention, and been held in hospitals and in ‘re-education through labor’ facilities”.

So what has the Falun Gong done to get the Chinese government so ticked off?

It seems innocent enough. Falun Gong is based on the ancient Chinese practice of qigong, a system of physical exercise and breathing control related to tai chi—with a heavy-dose of new-agey philosophy layered on top of it. According to its own literature, Falun Gong is:

A self-refinement practice of mood, body and spirit that is deeply rooted on the traditional Chinese culture. It consists of moral teachings based on the universal values of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, and a set of five meditative practices that is highly effective for improving health and well-being.

The group’s positions on subjects like sexuality are conservative and moralistic, something you think would go over very well in a country that still harbors a one-child policy. For instance, “practitioners cannot smoke, do drugs, gamble, drink, have premarital sex, be homosexual, or kill living things.”

Yet, Falun Gong has failed to make the list of five official state-sanctioned religious organizations in China, and if you listen to the government, the group is a “cult”. Beijing says that Falun Gong is responsible for the needless deaths of thousands of practitioners because “they refuse to seek medical treatment for their illnesses”. According to officials:

Falun Gong is against modern science, preaches the end of the world, forbids its followers watching TV or being treated in hospital and maintains that diseases do not exist and that ailments are due to sins people commit. They preached that UFOs had arrived on earth; aliens had taken over human bodies, and were trying to annihilate humanity through the control of TV and radio.

Okay, I get the not-allowed-to-watch TV part. But aliens landing on earth and taking over the bodies of humans? This sounded like good-old fashioned Chinese propaganda to me. But I was able to dig up a 1999 Time magazine interview with the group’s founder, Li Hongzhi, in which he makes some astounding claims about the role of aliens “from other planets” that “have corrupted mankind”. According to Hongzhi:

The aliens have introduced modern machinery like computers and airplanes…everyone thinks that scientists invent on their own when in fact their inspiration is manipulated by the aliens. In terms of culture and spirit, they already control man…the ultimate purpose is to replace humans. If cloning human beings succeeds, the aliens can officially replace humans.

According to a BBC report, Hongzhi believes that “he is a being from a higher level who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil”. And it’s interesting to note that his story dovetails with a recent news report on another Chinese leader who preaches the gospel of qigong and has amassed tens of thousands of followers.

Wang Lin recently sought asylum in Hong Kong after being charged with fraud and tax evasion in China. In a recent New York Times article, he is described as “a diminutive 61-year-old whose sculptured eyebrows and slicked-back hair are reminiscent of Liberace’s” who was “wearing the glittery style of ring and watch favored by many newly wealthy Chinese people.” He owns three Hummers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyI-CMl0YxEIt is said that Lie has the “power to cure cancer and has performed other mysterious feats like conjuring snakes out of thin air”. (You can see the video above.) Reports elsewhere say he has the ability to “fly”. It is also claimed the supernatural abilities he possesses can be learned by his followers.

So is the Chinese government, which has accused Lie of selling “spiritual opium” and labeled the Falun Gong “a menace to society” merely protecting its own people? Or is its greatest fear the rapid growth of these spiritual communities and the fact Falun Gong practitioners now outnumber Communist party members almost two-to-one?

I don’t know the answer, but either way it has to make you appreciate the religious freedom we have here in the United States. We’re free to follow whatever freaky religion we want—without the fear of having the government forcibly removing our body organs as a consequence.

spirituality in China

Wang Lin

Previous Post

October 19, 2013

Is the Bible the Word of God or a Book of Wisdom?

Next Post

November 13, 2013 How to be an even better you (by remembering 3 simple things).

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 50+ Spirituality 60 Second Inspiration Activism Adversity Afterlife agape aging Aliens Angels Angels and aliens anger animism Astrology Atheists Attention Attitude Authenticity Awareness Awe Ayahuasca Balance Beginnings Being Present Belief Bhagavad Gita Bible birth of Jesus Blessings Bliss Bono Breathing Buddha Buddhism Calling cats Centered Centering Prayer Chakras Change Character Character and Aging Christ consciousness Christianity Christmas Church Civility commencement speeches commitments compassion Connecting with God Consciousness Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Contentment Conversations with God Coping Coping mechanisms Corinthians Coronavirus Covid creativity Daily practice Dalai Lama David Brooks David Frenette Death Deathbed visions Decisions determinism Discernment disconnecting Donald Shimoda Dreaming of the Dead dreams Drinking Easter Eastern religion Eckhart Tolle ego Elders Emerson Engagement Enlightenment everyday magic Evil Spirits Expectations experience Faith fate Fatima Fear Feel Finding God Fitness Fulfillment Gandhi Gary Zukav Generosity Giving Gnostic gospels Gnostics God God's will Golden Rule Good & Evil Gospel of Thomas Gospels Grace Gratitude Grief Growing Older Guardian Angels gumption Gurus Halloween Happiness health health and happiness Heaven Helping others High Strangeness Hinduism Holiday Season honesty Honor Hope Humility impostor syndrome inner music Inner Work Insights insomnia Inspiration Inspirational intuition Investing Jeff Bridges Jesus Jesus Christ John Templeton joy joy of life Justin Bieber Kaballah Kabbalah Karma Kindness koans Law of Attraction Life Life after Death Life and death Life Balance Life Hacks Life Lessons Life Path Life Philosophy Life Plan life purpose Life Rules Life Tips Life's Big Questions Lindsay Lohan Listening Living Intentionally Loneliness Love Magic Mark Twain Marriage Meaning of Life Meditation mentor Mentors Mid-Life Crisis Mindful Mindfulness Money Monks Multiverse Mysterious World mystical experience Mysticism Mystics Mythology Napoleon Hill Near Death Experience (NDE) New Thought New Year New Year's resolutions Noise Oprah out-of-body experience Parables Peace of mind philosophy Plant Intelligence Pope Francis Positive Thinking Prayer prayers for the spiritual Preachers Premonitions presence Prophecies Prophecy Prophets Psalms Purpose Purpose of Life quietude Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Trine Reconnect Recovery reincarnation Relaxation Religion resolutions Resurrection Ritual Rituals Rules to Live By sadness Sam Harris Sandy Second Act Seeking self Self Mastery self-help self-improvement Seneca sermon sex shamans Sickness Silence Silence of God sleep small voice Smiling Social Activism solitude Soul Soul and Spirit Soul Awakening Spiritual Awakening spiritual beliefs spiritual guidance spiritual journey spiritual living spiritual path Spiritual philosophy Spiritual Practice Spirituality Spirituality and work Spooky Spirituality Stillness stoicism stoics Storytelling Stress Relief Success Suffering Suicide Surrender tao Thanks Thanksgiving the afterlife the bardo the Bible the Blues The Election the Kingdom the secret the self The Soul Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Thomas Moore Time Tony Robbins tradition UFOs Uncategorized Universe Values visualization Voice of God Wake Up Call Wake Up Call book Walls Walt Whitman Well-being Winter Blues Wisdom words to live by Work work/life balance worry Yogananda Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 November 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the name of the Jewish ruling council in Jesus’ time?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Sanhedrin Essenes Pharisees Sadducees

Books by This Author Books by Wake Up Call

See All Titles »