Information is beginning to surface about the inner workings of Falun Gong
When I posted the article ‘Me and Li’ on this blog almost two years ago, there were very few resources on the internet for people either going through the hard process of leaving Falun Gong, or people wanting to know more about the organisation. Almost everything available was either put out by Falun Gong or the Chinese government–two entities which, despite their differences, have quite a lot in common in their approach to knowledge. Both filter and manipulate information and see opposing viewpoints as something to be attacked and shut down rather than discussed.
Mainstream media have covered Falun Gong but have struggled to get a look into the organisation. I couldn’t find a single article from a media outlet that interviewed a former Falun Gong practitioner. (The only thing I found was this, which was heartfelt, accurate and very helpful). Some media wrote sneering reports that pointed out and laughed at the more bizarre teachings. Maybe they should do a retrospective, humorous take on the beliefs of the disciples of Jim Jones before they killed themselves. Wouldn’t that be a lark. It is likely that a comparable number of Falun Gong practitioners have died from medical neglect owing to their beliefs.
There have been some good academic contributions. Benjamin Penny’s The Religion of Falun Gong in particular is meticulously researched and unbiased. It gives deep insight into Li Hongzhi’s early life and, interestingly, his reading habits. A lot of Li’s ideas in his teachings can be traced back to books about conspiracy theories, fringe science and the occult–which is no surprise, but to see it mapped out and analysed helped me a lot in what I’ve called my return to logic.
Also for those who can read Chinese, this book is worth a look. It’s written by Natawut Smittipong, the ex-husband of Li’s sister, and it’s all about living with Li and his family.
When I started questioning my belief I wanted personal stories from people like me. I wanted to hear from people who understood how hard it is to untangle yourself from such a deeply entrenched belief, admit to your friends and family that you were wrong, develop a healthy scepticism, and question and change the way you see the world around you. I wanted to hear personal anecdotes of Li to help me understand him as a human, not as the god he portrays himself to be. And I wanted to know how the various arms of the organisation really function. How many of the articles on Clearwisdom.net that are attributed to Falun Gong practitioners are written by the site’s editors or by Li himself? Or when they are written freely by the Falun Gong community, how heavily edited are they? Where does all of Falun Gong’s money come from? What’s it really like for the kids growing up at Dragon Springs? What does Li do with his time when he’s not at Dragon Springs?
Happily for me, some of those questions are beginning to be answered, although the answers themselves are bittersweet. A lot of people are leaving Falun Gong. I’ve spoken to ex-practitioners from a range of different countries. Some who grew up at Dragon Springs told me some fascinating stories about Li and his wife Li Rui (known as ‘shimu’ or Teacher Mother), and their tight control of information. Kids living there aren’t allowed to have smart phones, and the internet is censored by a firewall. This makes the Falun Gong media’s criticism of the Chinese Communist Party’s control of information ring very hollow indeed, and it reflects poorly on Falun Gong’s adherence to its own basic tenet of ‘Truth’. Li himself has been known to have prolonged, angry outbursts in stark relief to his other tenets of ‘Compassion’ and ‘Forbearance’.
Some friends when I was a Falun Gong practitioner have since left, and we’ve had rich and heartfelt conversations on the other side. Others I knew have died from medical neglect, including the beautiful, gentle Colleen May, widow of the entertainer Ricky May. She suffered multiple strokes due to high blood pressure. She had carried pneumonia in her lungs for two years (I remember her horrible cough) and declined to take medication for her blood pressure due to her beliefs and the encouragement of the Falun Gong practitioners around her. Without Falun Gong, she would still be alive today.
Resources available are scarce, but this, too, is changing. Media outlets in Australia and abroad have contacted me after reading Me and Li. I’ve been happy to see the article slowly gain momentum in terms of the number of views it’s getting, distinct from most articles I’ve written in my journalism career which have quickly faded into obscurity. I think this says more about how little first-hand information there is available about the inner workings of Falun Gong than it says about the quality of my writing.
Some reporters at NBC are asking some hard questions of The Epoch Times, evidenced by this fiery response by the paper’s publisher Stephen Gregory. I eagerly await NBC’s report.
Writer Karen Geier has also published an interview with me on her podcast On Belief, which is doing a series on cults. I don’t like the way many people use the word cult, but Karen was respectful and sensitive, and the report is true to my words.
That’s all the resources I can suggest for now, but more information is in the pipeline.
Judging (albeit subjectively) by the growing number of people I know who have left Falun Gong, the increasing interest from media towards the inner workings of Falun Gong, and the growing willingness of ex-Falun Gong practitioners to go public with their experiences now that they have had time to process their ordeal, it is my belief that momentum is building.
We’re going to start hearing more about Falun Gong.
