Different Voices (Clark University, MA): Falun Dafa and the Wisdom of Ancient China

By Dan Pomerleau

The time-honored arts of self-healing and longevity-extension permeate all aspects of China's 5,000 year old culture. From folk medicine and cooking methods to delicate calligraphy painting and high court tea ceremonies, virtually all aspects of Chinese culture are rooted in traditions that sought to perfect the body, mind, and spirit.

Among these arts arose various schools of Qigong (chee-gong) and self-cultivation methods, including Tai Chi Chuan, Wushu, Hetu, Luoshu, Zhouyi, and Bagua to name a few. They focused their studies directly on the relationship between the human body, life, and the universe. They built these studies on the belief that the human body and the universe were an integrated entity. To improve the physical health and longevity, one could not focus only on changing the material elements seen with the eyes and touched with the hands, but needed to cultivate the mind and moral quality as well. In addition to physical exercises[...], honoring virtues and improving xinxing (shin-shing; mind/heart nature, moral quality) were seen as key to achieving physical health. These schools took a different path of science that enabled them to achieve results that were above the ordinary.

In today's rapidly modernizing China, these ancient arts manifest themselves most clearly in everyday life in public parks. Early in the mornings, one can find middle-aged and elderly people practicing various forms of slow movement and meditation exercises derived from the wisdom of ancient China. Since its public introduction in 1992 by Mr. Li Hongzhi, Falun Dafa has become the most popular one of them all.

Spread almost entirely by word of mouth, the Chinese government was astonished to discover that by 1999, Falun Dafa was being practiced by over 70 million Chinese citizens. Chinese parks were brimming at the brink of dawn with thousands of people practicing Falun Dafa's five tranquil exercises, and the practice quickly surpassed the typical middle-aged and elderly age brackets. From young children to young men and elderly women, all strata of society were taking part in Falun Dafa cultivation practice.

How can such explosive growth be explained? The main reason is that Falun Dafa offers a direct, unaltered link to the wisdom of ancient China. Passed down in secret from master to disciple over the course of thousands of years, its teaching methods and principles were previously unknown in the public arena. It surpassed the ordinary methods for healing illnesses by collecting and purifying qi (chee; vital energy/life force) or forming an energy cluster in the lower abdomen area. Additionally, it enables its practitioners to quickly develop gong (a higher form of energy than qi). A body that has gong does not possess any illnesses. Gong can only exist in the bodies of those who conduct true cultivation and emphasize the improvement and elevation of their hearts, minds, and moral standards. The teachings of Falun Dafa contain all of the principles of higher levels to enable people to accomplish this and thus develop gong.

Falun Dafa [...] teaches that this principle of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance is the characteristic, or Way, of the universe; the genuine standard to judge good and bad. The myriad of principles in the Tao School, the Buddha school, and all other orthodox schools are contained within Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. By practicing cultivation according to this principle, Falun Dafa practitioners can directly assimilate to the universe's nature, upgrade their moral standards, and thus can achieve a realm of extraordinary health and longevity. Falun Dafa is not a religion. It is a genuine cultivation practice of mind and body that seeks to assimilate the practitioner to the larger nature of the universe.

The benefits are real. In China, several large-scale surveys were conducted in major cities to help the Chinese government evaluate the practice. In a survey that covered more than 200 practice sites in Beijing, over 12,700 questionnaires from Falun Dafa practitioners were analyzed. Only 6.6% reported being healthy prior to practicing Falun Dafa. Of the remaining 93.4%, 58.5% reported full recovery, 24.9% reported basic recovery, and 15.7% partial recovery. Those who reported feeling energetic increased from 3.5% to 55.3% after taking up the practice, and 80.3% reported significant improvement in overall mental health. Such dramatic results prompted one official from the Chinese National Sports Commission to proclaim that practicing Falun Dafa "can save each person 1,000 Yuan in annual medical fees. If 100 million people are practicing it, that's 100 billion Yuan saved per year in medical fees" (US News & World Report, 2/22/99).

You may have heard the news that in China today people no longer have the freedom to practice Falun Dafa. Out of fear of the practice's growing popularity amongst the masses and its principles that are not confined within government ideology, Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president, has enacted a Mao style persecution that threatens the lives of over 70 million Chinese citizens. Since the persecution began in July 1999, over 320 innocent practitioners have been tortured to death in police custody. Faced with an unrelenting onslaught of propaganda designed to defame Falun Dafa and its teacher Mr. Li Hongzhi, the Chinese people today seem to have forgotten the well-known and wonderful benefits that Falun Dafa brought to the Chinese people and society just a few short years ago.

I myself have experienced these benefits of physical health and mental clarity first-hand for the past three and half years. It is my hope that students at Clark and around the world will be able to see through the propaganda. And I send this hope to the Chinese students at Clark especially. The loss of such ancient and virtuous things would truly be a great loss for your culture. The loss of the principle of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance would be a great loss for us all.

For more information, contact the Falun Dafa Club, a newly formed campus group. Our goal is to introduce Falun Dafa to Clark students and clarify the truth about the persecution occurring in China. You can also visit the website www.falundafa.org. Thank you.

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