Li Hongzhi

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Li Hongzhi's photo as shown on official websites

Li Hongzhi (Chinese: 李洪志; pinyin: Lǐ Hóngzhì, born c. 1951) is the controversial founder of Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, a system of mind-body cultivation. He currently resides in the United States with his wife and daughter and is a US permanent resident.

According to Pureinsight, a Falun Dafa website, Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 at the fifth Middle school in Changchun City, China. From 1992 to 1994, Li travelled across China, giving more than 54 lecture series and teaching the Falun Gong exercises. Li continues to give lectures at Falun Gong conferences outside of China today. He is the recipient of numerous awards from state and congressional bodies in the U.S and Canada, and has twice been a Nobel Prize nominee.

Li rarely talks about his background, although in Falun Gong's official biography it states that he began cultivating at the age of four and received teaching from numerous masters, as well as possessing supernatural powers and high moral principles. The state-run, Chinese media hold, however, that he was a PLA trumpet player and department clerk before he took on an interest in Qigong in the late 1980's. Owing to vast differences in the two versions of Li's biography it is difficult to pinpoint Li's background conclusively. Additionally, Li has become both the subject of controversy - ranging from claims of a fraudulent birthdate to status as a cult leader and allegations of profiteering - as well as the subject of praise and gratitude for his dissemination of Falun Dafa.

Biography

According to a biography of Li that was previously included in the index of his Zhuan Falun (the central text of Falun Gong), Li was born in Guangzhulin, Jilin province, China, on May 13, 1951. The biography says that at the age of four Li began studying under his first Buddhist master Quan Jue, who Li calls "the 10th heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School". After this master left Li eight years later, Li continued receiving instructions successively from more than twenty masters from both the Buddha School and the Tao School for a few decades, claiming to have been taught by an "immortal Taoist master". In addition, Li knew how to meditate at the age of eight, could move objects without coming into physical contact with them, and could become invisible by thinking "no one could see me", along with a list of other supernatural abilities. These claims are impossible to verify and therefore does not have serious biographical value in the media, but lays the foundation for the teachings of Li's Falun Dafa.

Following the biography’s recounting of intensive, decades-long physical and moral training, it goes on to tell of the reasons Li Hongzhi brought the cultivation system, Falun Dafa, to the public. In it claimed that Li had always questioned, in his mind, the reasons he was alive, and the reasons he had been taught the Gongfu. It reports that he felt that mankind should have been happier, but that people had lost their "true selves"; Li felt that people's spirits have been corrupted and their bodies suffering. The biography emphasised that Li "...saw that Xinxing (mind nature or moral character) is the root cause of human health. Everybody looks forward to a happy life, but they meet with every kind of misfortune because they have lost their true selves." The biography goes onto describe Li's process of refining and perfecting the cultivation system, Falun Dafa, and his imparting it to the public.

Li's mundane human life was reported in the Beijing Review, a Chinese state-owned publication, in early August 1999. This version of the biography is also impossible to verify except through circumstantial evidence, which may have been skewed since the Chinese government banned the practice in July 1999. According to this report in the period of 1970-78 Li worked as a trumpet player at a PLA stud farm and Jilin Provincial Forest Armed Police department. Then for the next four years he was an attendant at the hostel of the Jilin Provincial Forest Armed Police department. Starting from 1982 Li worked in the security department of the Changchun Cereals and Oil Company. It is probably in the late 1980's when he took on a great interest in the Chinese art of Qigong. In 1992, Li quit his job and began to propagate the Falun Gong practice and spiritual teachings to the general public in China.

Li Hongzhi taught the practice publicly in China over the course of the following two years. According to Falun Gong's websites, the practice continued to grow primarily by word-of-mouth. After this time, Li began giving lectures outside of China, and eventually settled in the US with his wife and daughter in 1997. Li Hongzhi continues to attend Falun Gong conferences in North America, where he often addresses practitioners and lectures on Falun Gong.

In Li Hongzhi's Canadian lectures held on May 23, 1999 in Toronto, Li was asked: "I want to recommend to a newspaper that they publish the Master's biography. Is this appropriate?" and he answered:

No. I don't want to speak about my own situation. Nobody should. Because everybody wanted to find out about me there was a very, very simple biography in Zhuan Falun. Now I had asked them to take it out. What I tell you about is the Law (Dharma), everyone should study this Law. Have no interest in my circumstances! Just study the Law and that will lead you to consummation.

Li's quotations, especially his numerous claims to supernatural abilities, are often used by Falun Gong's critics as material to allege illegitimacies and charges of fraud upon the practice itself. The fact that the two versions of the biography (that on his book and that by the CPC) differ so dramatically has made Li's background impossible to grasp in its entirety. In recent years, however, CNN and BBC have both accepted the CPC's version of Li's background with a few points of discretion .

Is Li Hongzhi a divine being?

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A Falun Dafa practitioner's depiction of Li Hongzhi, named "paintingLord"

According to the biography previously included at the back of Zhuan Falun. Li has developed many supernatural powers throughout his life beginning at a young age. Li’s training under his first master, Quan Jue, consisted mainly in cultivating these innate supernatural powers and instilling great moral principles within him. At the age of eight, it is reported that several supernormal powers manifested; he could levitate off the ground and become invisible. Other supernatural abilities acquired were the ability to control others’ movements by thoughts, and teleportation — he could move himself anywhere he wanted by thought alone. In the following decades he continued to receive trainings from various Masters, some of which took place at night in secret locations where no one could witness them. Through these secret trainings it is said that Li obtained great abilities. The supernatural powers he possessed were “unimaginable for ordinary human beings.” Though the biography emphasizes that above all, “He discovered 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.”

Since the biography, Li Hongzhi has made many comments claiming abilities or powers which some may interpret as god-like or divine. For example, by 1996, Li indicated that his abilities are not only beyond that of common human beings, but even extend beyond this lifetime into previous lives. “The things imparted to me by my several masters in this life are exactly what I intentionally arranged a few lifetimes ago for them to obtain. When the predestined occasion arrived, it had already been arranged that they [would] impart those things back to me so that I could recall my Fa in its entirety.”[5]

Since 1996, Li’s statements about his identity have become more explicit. In March, 2002, Li announced that:

“No one knows who I am. I do not know who I am, either. No being has ever seen me, and no being has ever called me by any name. I have neither form nor name, and I am different from anything that composes any being in the cosmos. To the sentient beings in the cosmos, I have nothing. Perhaps when the cosmos is no more, only I am there. I have nothing. No being knows who I am. Yet without me, the cosmos wouldn't exist. The reason I have come here is to save all sentient beings amidst the Fa-rectification at a time when the colossal firmament of the cosmos is disintegrating.” [6]

On February 15, 2003 at the Western U.S. Fa Conference, Li further discussed his situation. He first stated that his situation isn’t something that ordinary human beings can imagine. Then he described his origins: “I came from the inside, and came from the outside; I came from nothing, formed into something, appeared at the pinnacle of the colossal firmament, and then from there I descended step by step to the most surface, the Three Realms [which includes our human dimension]. No being knows who I am.”

Li then made claims about his service to the human race. “In fact, today's human race would have been destroyed a long time ago if it weren't for the Fa-rectification. The standard of the human race's thinking is already at a level lower than hell. It's because of the Fa-rectification that I atoned for the sins of all sentient beings in the Three Realms.” He then went on to claim what he has done for his disciples: “As far as our students are concerned, it was as if I scooped you out of hell back then. (Applause) I have truly borne for you the sins you committed over hundreds and thousands of years. And it doesn't stop at just that. Because of this, I will also save you and turn you into Gods. I have spared no effort for you in this process. Along with this, since you'll become Gods at levels that high, I have to give you the honors of Gods at levels that high and all the blessings that you need to have at levels that high. (Applause) Never, from the beginning of time, has any God dared to do this. Something like this has never happened before.”[7]

According to the teachings of Li Hongzhi, Fa-rectification refers to the process of renewal, harmonization and perfection of the entire cosmos. Li Hongzhi writes that the old cosmos possessed the characteristic of formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction, and that the cosmos has now reached its final stage, of destruction. Through Fa-rectification, a process being undertaken by Li himself, this destruction is said to be being prevented, and instead the universe is being restored to its original purity, in the process saving all beings - including humans. [8]

Despite such claims, Clearwisdom.net, a main Falun Gong website, maintains that “he is not accorded special treatment, nor does he accept money or donations from students of Falun Gong.” [9]

Awards and Recognition

Li Hongzhi was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Li was also nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2001 by 28 members of the European Parliament, but failed to make the shortlist.

Support, praise and gratitude

As reported by Noah Porter in his Master's thesis FALUN GONG IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY, many Falun Gong practitioners hold deep personal gratitude towards Li Hongzhi for the positive transformation in their lives the practice of Falun Dafa has brought them.

Arrest warrant for Li

On July 29, 1999, the Chinese authorities issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Li Hongzhi. A request for arrest warrant was also sent to Interpol, and his passport was revoked, preventing him from traveling internationally. Interpol rejected the request on the grounds that it violates article three of the organization's constitution which forbids the Interpol from intervening in "matters of a political, religious, military or racial character".

Disputes

Making money from Falun Gong

Li Hongzhi claims to have not financially benefited from his teachings. According to Clearwisdom.net, "he is not accorded special treatment, nor does he accept money or donations from students of Falun Gong." [10] Li stipulated that promoting Falun Gong could never be done for fame and money, practitioners must not accept any fee, donation or gift in return of their voluntary promotion of the practice. Addressing his Falun Dafa assistants in 1994, Li made it clear that only his Falun Gong Research Society could get involved in managing the money aspect of Falun Gong and that they would always have to get his approval before making any financial decisions. [11] According to Falun Gong practitioners, Li's insistence that the practice be offered free of charge caused a rift with the China Qigong Research Society, the state administrative body under which Falun Dafa was initially introduced, and Li withdrew from the organization. All materials such as lectures, books, and videos are available to be freely downloaded on FalunDafa.org.

In an interview in Sydney on May 2, 1999, Li revealed his financial status in the following statement: "In mainland China I published so many books, but added together, they haven't exceeded twenty thousand Renminbi (equivalent to US $ 2,469). This is what the publishing company gave me. When publishing books in other countries of the world, you know there is a rule, which pays 5 or 6% royalties to the author, so each time I can only get a little bit, a few hundred, or a few thousand dollars." [12]

Some critics charge that Li made money from teaching Falun Gong despite promising never to charge for teaching or helping practitioners. According to Dr. Yunfeng Lu, Li was able to differentiate his version of Qi Gong from other popular Qi Gong systems popular in the 1980's and 1990's by establishing "his own theory of salvation"--namely "that there is no way to salvation except for the Buddha Law delivered by him." By promoting Falun Gong with untestable explanations, Li became a “very rich within two years.” Citing the work of Zhang and Qiao, who commissioned their study in Taiwan, Lu alleged that Li accumulated more than one million RMB through conducting qigong classes and selling related materials” in the period from 1993 to 1994. When Zhuan Falun was published in December, 1994, “more than one million books were sold” bringing in “a large amount of revenue to Li Hongzhi.” Citing the work of Zheng and Quan, Lu adds: “Before it became illegal in 1999, FLG had generated revenues of more than 41 million RMB through the sale of books, pictures, videotapes and VCDs.”

During a lecture in Toronto in 1999, Li addressed the allegations of his generating wealth from spreading Falun Gong. He stated:

"[...]does it matter whether or not I have money? Even if I had money, I wouldn’t care about it. [...] What I got is very little, and I basically live on the royalty money. I’m telling everyone: You don’t have to be attached to this matter. It’s useless for you to investigate it. Why would I put forth that much effort to make money? All I would need would be to tell everyone to give me ten dollars, then I would be a billionaire. What a fast and easy way that would be! Everyone would be happy to give it to me and I could also receive it openly. Why would I resort to putting forth so much effort? I think that sometimes people have impure intentions. They take things in a very narrow-minded and silly way."

According to a Wall Street Journal report "American Dream Finds Chinese Spiritual Leader," on November 1, 1999, Li purchased a house in New York for $293,500 in 1998 shortly after immigrating to the US, then acquired another for $580,000 in New Jersey in 1999. Before he began to spread the practice, Li and his wife each earned less than $500 a year in China.

John Sun, a New York Falun Gong practitioner, stated in a letter published on the Falun Gong web site Clearwisdom.net that he actually bought the house (580,000 one) in Li's wife's name as an attempt to offer it as a gift, according to him Mr. and Mrs. Li firmly refused to accept the house.

Birth date

The date of his birth is disputed. According to ClearWisdom, a Falun Dafa website, "Li was born into an ordinary intellectual's family in the city of Gongzhuling, Jilin Province, China, on May 13 (the eighth day of the fourth month by China lunar calendar), 1951." . After the persecution began, the Chinese government said that he was born on July 7, 1952 and that he "changed his date of birth to make it coincide with the birthday of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, in an attempt to show that he was the reincarnation of Sakyamuni". . In a New York interview Li Hongzhi alleged that being born on the birth date of Sakyamuni was coincidental:

"During the Cultural Revolution, the government misprinted my birth date. I just corrected it. During the Cultural Revolution, there were lots of misprints on identity. A man could become a woman, and a woman could become a man. It's natural that when people want to smear you, they will dig out whatever they can to destroy you. What's the big deal about having the same birthday as Sakyamuni? Many criminals were also born on that date. I have never said that I am Sakyamuni. I am just a very ordinary man."

External links

Falun Gong websites

• A Short Biography of Mr. Li Hongzhi, Founder of Falun Dafa, President of the Research Society of Falun Buddha Science
• Videos of Li Hongzhi's Nine day lecture in Guangzhou, China. (English overlay)
• Book: Practitioners recollection about their Teacher (Li Hongzhi) while He was introducing Falun Gong (free to download)
• 1999 statement by Li Hongzhi
• The actual teachings of Li Hongzhi, online
• Summary of a 2004 interview with Li Hongzhi with NTDTV, the first since 1999, hosted on a Falun Dafa website

Critical

• 2001 San Jose Mercury News critical article held at Rick Ross, a "cult watchdog" group

Third party

• Interviews with Li Hongzhi, New York Times Magazine, August 8, 1999
• Extensive May 1999 interview with Li Hongzhi several news agencies, in Sydney Australia
• May 1999 interview with Li Hongzhi by Time Magazine Asia
• Who is Li Hongzhi? BBC Interview (RealPlayer video)
• Li Hongzhi interviewed by Time Magazine Asia in August 1999