Li Hongzhi

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Li (李).

Li Hongzhi Chinese: 李洪志
Born	13 May 1951 (1951-05-13) (according to Li Hongzhi) 7 July 1952 (1952-07-07) (according to Chinese government) Gongzhuling, Jilin, China
Residence	United States
Nationality	Chinese
Known for	Founding of Falun Gong

Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; pinyin: Lǐ Hóngzhì; born 13 May 1951 or 7 July 1952) is the founder and spiritual master of Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa), a "system of mind-body cultivation" in the qigong tradition. Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and subsequently gave lectures and taught Falun Gong exercises across China. The movement gained significant popularity in the 1990s, but was suppressed by the Chinese government in 1999.

Accounts of Li's early life differ between detractors and supporters. Official Chinese sources say that Li was an ordinary army grain clerk and trumpet player, while the Falun Gong text Zhuan Falun says that Li was trained by a Buddhist and Taoist masters from childhood and possessed extraordinary powers. Falun Gong's teachings are compiled from Li's lectures, and Li holds definitional power in that belief system. Li moved to the United States in 1996 and continues to teach the practice.

Early life

Li Hongzhi (right) being interviewed in 1993

There are competing accounts of Li's life that surfaced before and after Falun Gong was banned in July 1999. David Ownby believes that both accounts should be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. In Falun Gong and the future of China, Ownby said that Li Hongzhi was born Li Lai, on 27 July 1952, and that his parents divorced whilst he was a toddler. The biography in China Falun Gong (1992) states that Li was "completely poverty-stricken" with his mother "relying on a wage of some 30 yuan to bring up the whole family" The 1994 edition of Zhuan Falun states that Li was born into a "white-collar", "ordinary intellectual" family.

Chinese authorities say that Li studied at primary and junior high middle schools in Changchun between 1960 and 1969. Growing up during the Cultural revolution, Li's formal education was adversely affected. According to the Chinese government biography, Li held "a series of unremarkable jobs": between 1970 and 1972, Li worked at an army stud farm; from 1972 to 1978, was a trumpet player in a forest police unit in Jilin Province, and then served as an attendant at a hotel attached to the same unit. From 1982 to 1991 he worked at the security department of the Changchun Cereals Company.

Li says that he was born on 13 May 1951 in Gongzhuling, Jilin province. The Chinese authorities say that he was born on 7 July 1952. In 1994, he fell out with a faction in Changchun which wanted to open a clinic where they would presumably hold their own fee-charging workshops but was rebuffed by Li, and its members were expelled from the movement. This group would send a three-volume report to several government ministries in late 1994, denouncing Li and Falun Gong and saying that Li had no superpowers and was unable to cure people — including the first time allegation that Li had altered his birthdate to that of Sakyamuni. Falun Gong replied to the various recipients in detail on 2 February 1995. In 1999, the Chinese government once again asserted that he modified his birth date, citing a Changchun Public Security Bureau document dated 24 September 1994, whereby Li formally altered his birthday. Li rejected the accusation as a "smear", and asserted that his recorded birth date of 7 July 1952 was just one of the pervasive bureaucratic errors during the Cultural Revolution. In the end of 1999, a Hong Kong World News reporter paid a visit to the Changchun Public Security Bureau to investigate and confirmed that Mr. Li Hongzhi had changed back to his correct birth date. After the reporter's visit, one policemen was fired and twenty-one policemen were punished in Changchun Public Security Bureau in January 2000. He denied that he saw any particular significance to it, saying "Many criminals were also born on that date. I have never said that I am Sakyamuni." In the book Zhuan Falun Fajie published in 1997, people can find following question and answer: "Question: Who were you in your previous life? Teacher: I’m just Li Hongzhi. By no means am I Buddha Shakyamuni."

Spiritual biography

Li says that his human life is of no particular importance to his teachings, and the biography that appeared as an appendix to the Falun Dafa text Zhuan Falun focuses only on spiritual aspects, displaying similarities to biographies of other qigong masters and men who claimed to be holy in Chinese history. According to the Zhuan Falun biography, Li Hongzhi had been taught ways of "cultivation practice" (xiulian) by several Masters of the Dao and the Buddhist disciplines of thought from a very young age. At four, he was trained by Quan Jue, the Tenth Heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School. By age eight, he had acquired "the superb great law with supernatural powers", which was supposed to include invisibility, levitation, etc. Li also became compassionate and developed an altruistic moral code. Master Quan left him at age twelve, to be replaced by Taoist master Baji Zhenren.

A third Master arrived in 1972 from the Great Way School with the Taoist (alias of True Taoist, Zhendaozi), who had come from the Changbai Mountains near the North Korean border. The True Taoist taught Li the way of inner cultivation through Qigong, stressing xinxing (i.e. "mind or heart nature, moral character"). Due to the Cultural Revolution, Li only practiced Qigong at night. A fourth Master - a woman from the Buddha School - trained Li after the True Taoist's departure in 1974. After training with these four Masters, Li's "energy potency had reached a very high level." The biography goes on to state that he has received training from over twenty masters in his lifetime and that "Some of his supernatural powers are difficult for ordinary people to imagine or understand."

In Zhuan Falun, Li further claims 'miracles' he performed that while practising with disciples in 1990. For example, he was able to push away stormy weather and hold off rain for the whole duration of the practice session, and "half an hour" afterwards. His personal development plateaued around this time, with the biography stating that Li was able "to see the truth of the universe, many more beautiful things which have existed there for a long time, as well as the origin, development and future of mankind."

After Falun Gong's ban in mainland China in 1999, new editions of Falun Gong's books no longer contain biographies of Li. These changes seem to reflect a larger trend of Li retreating from the public eye. Since 2000 he has very rarely appeared in public, his presence almost entirely being electronic or re-routed through quotations on Falun Gong's websites. Li Hongzhi's biography were removed from Falun Gong websites some time after 2001.

Falun Gong

Main article: Falun Gong

According to Zhuan Falun, Falun Gong's system was developed between 1984 and 1989 after years of synthesis from general Qigong principles and advice from Masters of numerous religious and spiritual schools. It claims to have "assembled all the mystical powers, which are the essence of the whole cosmos."

Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Dafa, or the Great Law of the Wheel of Dharma, on 13 May 1992 at the fifth Middle School in Changchun, Jilin. From 1992 to 1994 he traveled throughout China, giving lectures and teaching Falun Gong exercises; His following grew rapidly. Li's success was largely linked to the huge popularity enjoyed by Qigong in the late 1980s and early 1990s under Deng Xiaoping's social liberalization. He differentiated Falun Gong by prioritising "accessibility to the public" and moral content, away from esoteric notions often found in other Qigong systems.

Falun Gong's teachings are compiled from Li's lectures, and he holds definitional power in the Falun Gong belief system. Li was also critical of alternative systems within the Qigong movement, stating it was "rife with false teachings and greedy and fraudulent 'masters'" and set out to rectify it. Li said that Falun Gong was a part of a "centuries-old tradition of cultivation," and in his texts would often attack those who taught "incorrect, deviant, or heterodox ways." Li differentiated Falun Gong from other movements in Qigong by emphasizing moral values aimed to "purify one's heart and attain spiritual salvation." rather than what he saw as undue emphasis on physical health and the development of supernatural powers.

Li Hongzhi Lectures on Falun Gong in Wuhan, China, in 1993.

Ian Johnson points out that during the greatest period of Falun Gong book sales in China, Li Hongzhi never received any royalties because all publications were bootleg. Li's success also had a large part to do with people seeking effective alternative medicine treatments at a time when China's health care system was struggling desperately to meet demand. As the Master of the Falun Gong cultivation system, Li claimed to "purify the students' bodies" and "unblock their main and collateral channels" and in doing so "remove the root of their disease," if they were ill. He also reputedly planted a Falun or "law wheel" in the abdomen of each student, and other "energy mechanisms" in other parts of their bodies. Li also described how his "Law bodies" will protect each practitioner and how he "clear[s] up the students' house and places of practice and then put[s] a covering of safety'".

According to Falun Gong groups, Li's success was recognized at the 1992 and 1993 Beijing Oriental Health Expo, where he gave three lectures instead of one due to popular demand, and received numerous "special awards". In March 1995, Li Hongzhi arrived in France at the invitation of China's ambassador there, beginning seven days of lectures in Paris. This was followed in May by a lecture series in Sweden. Li has lived in the United States since 1998.

Li Hongzhi lectures on Falun Dafa at the UN General Assembly Hall, Geneva, 1998

Life abroad

See also: History of Falun Gong

On 10 May 1999, Li gave an interview with Time, during which he stated that "human moral values are no longer good" and reiterated Falun Gong's differentiation from other Qigong groups. He also expounded on the "Dharma-ending period" and claimed the existence of aliens were corrupting human beings. He avoided questions about his personal background, stating, "I don't wish to talk about myself at a higher level. People wouldn't understand it."

On 29 July 1999, after Falun Gong was banned, the Chinese government levelled a series of charges against Li, including the charge of "disturbing public order." At that time, Li Hongzhi was living in the United States. The Chinese government's request to Interpol for his arrest was rejected on the grounds that the request was a matter "of a political or religious character" and lacked information on any "ordinary law crime he would have committed" The Chinese government also revoked his passport, preventing him from traveling internationally.

Li Hongzhi has received awards and proclamations in a number of countries. These include certificates of recognition from several governmental bodies in the United States - including Honorary Citizenship awarded by The State of Georgia and city of Atlanta. In 14 March 2001, The Freedom House bestowed Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong with an International Religious Freedom Award for the advancement of religious and spiritual freedom at a ceremony in the United States Senate. In the same year, Li was ranked the most powerful communicator in Asia by Asiaweek magazine "for his power to inspire, to mobilize people and to spook Beijing."

An attempt to nominate Li Hongzhi for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 by Bay Area legislators was withdrawn after they were notified of Falun Gong's views on homosexuality.

Bibliography

• Falun Gong. Considered an introductory exposition of the principles of Falun Gong and the traditional Chinese concept of cultivation practice, along with descriptions of the exercises of Falun Gong. First published in April 1993.
• Nine Day Lectures on Falun Dafa. From 1992 to 1994, Li Hongzhi presented his teachings across China, the contents of which were ultimately edited and compiled into the book Zhuan Falun. The teachings entailed a one to two hour lecture on each of 8 to 10 consecutive days. Exercise instruction was offered thereafter. The final of these lecture series, delivered in Guangzhou, China, in 1994, were recorded live and they form a central part of Falun Gong's teachings.
• Zhuan Falun-Turning the Law Wheel. Considered the central and most comprehensive exposition of the teachings of Falun Gong. First published in January 1995.
• Hong Yin - Grand Verses. A collection of short poems written by Li, often touching upon issues pertinent to the traditional Chinese concept of cultivation practice.
• Lectures and Writings. Transcripts of Lectures delivered by Li and articles periodically published by him also form a central part of Falun Gong's teachings.

External links

Li Hongzhi's teachings

• Videos of Li Hongzhi's nine day lecture in Guangzhou, China (With English overlay) at falundafa.org
• "Some Thoughts of Mine", June 1999 at falundafa.org
• Book: Practitioners recollection about their Teacher at clearwisdom.net
• The actual teachings of Li Hongzhi at falundafa.org

Interviews

• William Dowell (10 May 1999). "Interview with Li Hongzhi". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990510/interview1.html. 
• "Interview with Li Hongzhi in Sydney, Australia". 2 May 1999. http://www.zhuichaguoji.org/en/upload/docs/ThirdPartyDoc/G_3.doc. 
• Anthony Spaeth (2 August 1999). "Interview: Li Hongzhi "I am just a very ordinary man"". TIMEasia.com. http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0802/li1.html. 
• Jonathan S. Landreth and J.S. Greenberg (8 August 1999). "Eye of the Storm". New York Times Magazine. http://www.cesnur.org/testi/falun_020.htm. 
• "NTDTV Press Release: Summary of the Exclusive Interview with Mr. Li Hongzhi, Founder of Falun Gong". clearharmony.net. 25 January 2004. http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200401/17455.html.