Searching for an old story on illegal meditation

[ZillaBilla]

Yep, Falun Gong is definatelly bullshit, turning things upside down. left to right and generally backwards.. I say falun gong..

[IBOPM]

I think there's too much fuss over these people.

I wholey disagree with their teachings. It's just a cult like any other.

I really don't see any benefit of getting into it. Mankind has lived thousands of years before Falun Gong, and we all turned out okay. I'd rather put my time into training for a healthier better coordinated and conditioned body using traditional means (excercise).

[Innocence]

Haha, it kind of reminds me of 1 paragraph in their book, which almost led me to believe.
I'll try to paraphrase. Something like this...btw, this is their leader speaking.

"One day, a group of 5 people entered my mind [telepathically]. They said they wanted to know what I was thinking. Their minds were so still it was scary."

He sounded totally surprised and incredulous at the stillness in the minds of these people who entered his mind, which led me to believe they were some buddhists/taoists with a very high level of cultivation.

BUT, it really got me thinking, why he would include an experience such as this. Doesn't it just draw attention to his own lacking of understanding...stillness...wuwei (no action, of taoism), the whole aim of buddhist meditation...

BUT, then again, a passage like this adds believability to his book...

Then again, I assume this man to be of at least above average intelligence... best not to dwell on it.
Again, I must express my disapproval, but that passage was interesting and thought provoking.

[I think it would be good for those of you interested to read the book (before looking down on them), it is interesting.]

Do you guys know a chinese phrase which is "walk fire enter demon" which is said of people who have gone crazy training...haha, he reminds me of that.

[ZillaBilla]

I dont really get this "walk fire enter demon", is it like 'play with matches, you get burned'... ?

[Innocence]

it kind of means, when you over-train, and you go insane...¨«¤õ¤JÅ]
I hope someone can give a better explanation

[SimonM]

The problem with Falun Gong is that they decided to try and take on the government of the PRC. The people's republic doesn't like religion. It basically tolerates Buddhism and Taoism and grudgingly accepts it's Muslim population but it has the strictest religious control laws I have ever seen. Falun Gong began recruiting, heavily, and made a point of singling out low-level party officials (imagine mayors and down) for recruitment.

This caused them to get onto the PRC radar in a negative way; all of a sudden they weren't able to get the permits they needed to continue the practice and expansion of their faith.

They then decided to challenge the government on this and did not follow the appropriate channels; instead they acted like they were in Europe or North America and took to the streets in mass demonstrations.

What bothers me is that even if the average Falun Gong practicioner was just trying to protect their privelage to practice their faith their leaders MUST have realized how the PRC government would react to this; they were deliberately trying to turn their parishoners into martyrs.

Then Li Hongzhi jumps ship to the US of A and Falun Gong sets up shop in Canada and the States claiming that they are these peace loving, tranquil people being brutalized by the EVIL (Like the fru-its of the d'eville) communist state and use their "martyrs in China" as a sales pitch for new converts to this amoral twerps one man worship me cult.

I feel sorry for the falun gong practicioners of China that they have been duped into breaking the law in order to line the pockets of a slick snake oil salesman but I have no pity for "falun gong" as a group and I despise it's leaders.

[chicken legs]

cool finally a story that sounds believable. thanks Simon. Its a shame that some of their practitioners don't seem to really know anything about their own organisation (ie. the story I relayed earlier in this thread)

[joedoe]

Religion in the PRC is very tightly controlled. In fact the only religions tolerated there are the ones that the government can put people in control of. Catholicism is frowned upon there because the government wanted to appoint the bishops and the Vatican would not allow it. Buddhism and Taoism is tolerated because the government appoints the leaders of those groups.

[chicken legs]

hi joe,

I'm only guessing, but I don't think the chinese govt have that much control over the leaders of taoism and buddhism. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your interpretation. Did you mean to say that the chinese govt choose who will be appointed from a list of buddhist/taoist masters? I'm reading a book called "highway to heaven" its about a scholar from england/us (originally) who travels to china to discover if there are still hermits living in the mountains. I think its from about the 1990's but the Chinese govt seemed a little undecided on their approach to controlling taoism and buddhism from what the author was saying. Sure the chinese govt appoints leaders/contact people at temples but these guys generally were monks and the monks are mainly at the temples for the tourist dollar. the real masters stay in the mountains because the masters at temples don't have time to devote to studying because of all the tourists.

in saying all this I have never been to china to experience it first hand, I'm hoping to travel there next year, my teachers take tours to china every year, apparently its pretty amazing, here check it out

http://www.taichiacademy.com.au/courses12.htm