Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): Falun Dafa followers find peace of mind in Salt Lake City

September 23, 2005

While runners, in-line skaters and bicyclists whiz by, a circle of Falun Dafa practitioners meditate in peaceful concentration at Salt Lake City's Liberty Park.

The group meets weekly in the park and posts banners inviting passers-by to join them in the slow moving, Tai-Chi-like exercises which are called Falun Gong. For about two hours, the group performs its deep meditations and seems so focused it is as if there is nothing else in the world happening.

Since it was introduced to the public in 1992 in China, Falun Dafa has caught on in more than 60 countries and 48 states. It is described as a way to improve one's life through exercise, meditation, and teachings rooted in ancient Chinese culture. More than 100 million people are said to practice the self-improvement teachings which are based on truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.

Utah Falun Dafa practitioners are diverse. They include a follower who was born in China, but discovered Falun Dafa in Utah; Mexican immigrants; former Mormons; a member of the Navajo tribe and a woman who says she escaped communist Vietnam in a boat.

The practice, though, is not part of an organized body. There are no leaders, no fees and no proselytizing. The group simply raises awareness of the practice and the meditative exercises and believes that each person is responsible for their own life.

Volunteers offer study groups and teach the exercises to anyone who cares to learn. And, all of the activities are offered free of charge around the world. Even the books, which teach the basic tenets, are offered free by Falun Dafa founder, Li Hongzhi, at www.falundafa.org. The books, Zhuan Falun (Revolving the Law Wheel) and Falun Gong, an introductory book for beginners, can also be purchased at most major bookstores, or obtained from the local library. Hongzhi has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work and now lives in New York City.

Called a self-cultivation practice rather than a religion, Falun Dafa followers say it improves health, lowers stress, helps overcome addictions, improves energy levels, and deepens spiritual awareness.

Included in the gentle exercises are stances like Buddha Showing a Thousand Hands, which is an exercise to open energy channels in the body; Falun Standing Stance, which is said to enhance energy levels; penetrating the two cosmic extremes, meant to purify the body using energy from the cosmos; Falun Heavenly Circulation, meant to rectify the abnormal conditions in the body and circulate energy; and Strengthening Divine Powers, a sitting meditation for deep tranquility.

"I had been looking for spiritual truths all my life," said practitioner Beverly Clark. "So many of us have difficult lives. I wanted to know why."

She read a local newspaper article about Falun Dafa six years ago. She said she could not ignore the phenomenal worldwide growth of the practice and said after she read Hongzhi's book, she knew immediately this was the answer to her search.

"It's a beautiful spiritual practice. I especially like the way it answers questions about why things happen in our world. It makes sense," she said.

Sheng Mei, 24, who was born in the Hunan Province, is an American citizen and engineering student at the University of Utah. He adopted the practice a few years ago.

"It purifies people's souls. It encourages people to be better people. Even if at the moment you are not able to live the principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, you keep trying," he said.

Mei's fianc¨¦e, Qian Li, 23, also practices Falun Dafa. He said because of her adherence to the principles, she is being detained in China by the Chinese government, which outlawed Falun Dafa in 1999. Mei is desperate to obtain her freedom so that she can join him in Utah.

"Americans have a hard time believing that Chinese are not allowed to have their own beliefs. Chinese are not allowed to have information. Even certain sites, including the Falun Dafa site on the Internet, are blocked from the Chinese," Mei said. "Who would ever think that Falun Dafa Internet sites could be blocked from an entire country. Many Chinese do not know the truth about Falun Dafa."

He said a year before banning the practice, the communist Chinese government conducted a survey to find out how many people practiced Falun Dafa. When officials learned that more than 70 million Chinese had adopted it in only six years, he said the government saw it as a threat to government power. It was banned.

"The government persecution is reminiscent of the persecutions of the Jews and the early Christians who were fed to the lions," Clark said. "There is no logic to it."

In July of 2002, The U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling upon the Chinese government to cease the persecution of Falun Gong believers. Many other countries have also implored China to stop the persecution, but to no avail. The crack down continues today.

"I don't understand how the U.S. and other countries can be willing to conduct business in China knowing about the torture and abuse of peace loving Chinese," Mei said.

Clark echoes the sentiment.

"I would never want to invest in Chinese stocks or any other Chinese business, knowing that my money might inadvertently fund the very government organization that continues to kill and torture Falun Dafa believers," she said.

"I really appreciate Utahns and our Utah congressional delegation, who have been so helpful to Falun Dafa in Utah. Because of the religious persecution of the early Mormons, Utahns really understand how freedom of belief is to be cherished," Clark said.

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