Editing Falun Gong (section)

==Beliefs and practices==
{{main|Teachings of Falun Gong}}
Falun Gong is entirely based around the teachings of its autocratic founder and leader: China-born Li Hongzhi.<ref>Lewis 2018, pp. 17, 92</ref> According to ''NBC News'', to his followers, Li is "a God-like figure who can levitate, walk through walls and see into the future. His ultra-conservative and controversial teachings include a rejection of modern science, art and medicine, and a denunciation of homosexuality, feminism and general worldliness."<ref name="NBC-ZARDROZNY-2023">Zadrozny, Brandy. 2023. "How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions". NBC News, 13 October 2023. [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epoch-times-falun-gong-growth-rcna111373 Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014042433/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epoch-times-falun-gong-growth-rcna111373 |date=14 October 2023 }}.</ref> Hongzhi instructs his followers to downplay his controversial teachings when speaking to outsiders.<ref>Lewis 2018, pp. 5, 30</ref>

===Central teachings===
{{Cleanup rewrite|2=section|date=November 2023}}
[[File:Falun Gong Meditation in Manhattan New York.jpg|thumb|upright|Falun Gong adherents practice the fifth exercise, a meditation, in [[Manhattan]].]]
According to the Falun Gong, the Falun Gong aspires to enable the practitioner to ascend spiritually through moral rectitude and the practice of a set of exercises and meditation. The three stated tenets of the belief are truthfulness ({{lang-zh|c=真|p=Zhēn|label=none}}), compassion ({{lang-zh|c=善|p=Shàn|label=none}}), and forbearance ({{lang-zh|c=忍|p=Rěn|label=none}}).<ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Bwqkwx4SWS0C&q=ownby+falun 93, 102]}}</ref> These principles have been repeated by Falun Gong members to outsiders as a tactic for evading deeper inquiry, and followers have been instructed by Li to lie about the practice.<ref name="kavan">{{Cite conference |last=Kavan |first=Heather |date=July 2008 |title=Falun Gong in the media: What can we believe? |url=https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Business/Communication%20and%20Journalism/ANZCA%202008/Refereed%20Papers/Kavan_ANZCA08.pdf |conference=2008 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association Conference |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=12 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012202848/https://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Business/Communication%20and%20Journalism/ANZCA%202008/Refereed%20Papers/Kavan_ANZCA08.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|6}}<ref name="Lewis 2017">{{cite journal |author=James R. Lewis |author-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |title='I am the only one propagating true Dharma': Li Hongzhi's Self-Presentation as Buddha and Greater |date=2017 |journal=Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities |volume=II |number=2 |publisher=Colombo Arts}}</ref> Together these principles are regarded as the fundamental nature of the cosmos, the criteria for differentiating right from wrong, and are held to be the highest manifestations of the [[Tao]].<ref>{{harvp|Porter|2003|p=29}}: "According to the Falun Gong belief system, there are three virtues that are also principles of the universe: Zhen, Shan, and Ren (真, 善, 忍). Zhen is truthfulness and sincerity. Shan is compassion, benevolence, and kindness. Ren is forbearance, tolerance, and endurance. These three virtues are the only criteria that truly distinguish good people and bad people. Human society has deviated from these moral standards. All matter in the universe contains Zhen- Shan-Ren. All three are equally important."</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p= 93}}: "The very structure of the universe, according to Li Hongzhi, is made up of the moral qualities that cultivators are enjoined to practice in their own lives: truth, compassion, and forbearance."</ref><ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=133}}: "For Li, as he often repeats in Zhuan Falun, the special characteristic or particular nature of the cosmos is the moral triumvirate of zhen (truth), shan (compassion), and ren (forbearance). He does not mean this metaphorically; for him zhen, shan, and ren are the basic organizing principles of all things{{nbsp}}[...] it is embedded in the very essence of everything in the universe that they adhere to the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance."</ref> Adherence to and cultivation of these virtues is regarded as a fundamental part of Falun Gong practice.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=124}}: "In addition, in Falun Gong cultivation adherence to the code of truth, compassion, and forbearance is not just regarded as the right and responsible course of action for practitioners; it is an essential part of the cultivation process. Lapsing from it will render any other efforts in cultivation worthless."</ref> In [[Zhuan Falun]] ({{lang|zh|转法轮}}), the foundational text published in 1995, Li Hongzhi writes "It doesn't matter how mankind's moral standard changes{{nbsp}}[...] The nature of the cosmos doesn't change, and it is the only standard for determining who's good and who's bad. So to be a cultivator you have to take the nature of the cosmos as your guide for improving yourself."<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=124–125}}</ref>

Practice of Falun Gong consists of two features: performance of the exercises, and the refinement of one's {{transliteration|zh|xinxing}} (moral character, temperament). In Falun Gong's central text, Li states that {{transliteration|zh|xinxing}} "includes virtue (which is a type of matter), it includes forbearance, it includes awakening to things, it includes giving up things—giving up all the desires and all the attachments that are found in an ordinary person—and you also have to endure hardship, to name just a few things."<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=169}}</ref> The elevation of one's moral character is achieved, on the one hand, by aligning one's life with truth, compassion, and tolerance; and on the other, by abandoning desires and "negative thoughts and behaviors, such as greed, profit, lust, desire, killing, fighting, theft, robbery, deception, jealousy, etc."<ref name="Benjamin Penny p 170">{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=170}}</ref>

Among the central concepts found in the teachings of Falun Gong is the existence of 'Virtue' ({{lang-zh|c=德|p=[[De (Chinese)|Dé]]|label=none}}) and 'Karma' ({{lang-zh|c=業|p=[[Karma#In Falun Gong|Yè]]|label=none}}).<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=172}}: "Transforming karma into virtue is fundamental in the cultivation practice of Falun Gong"</ref><ref name="Ownby110">{{harvp|Ownby|2008|pp=110–12}}</ref> The former is generated through doing good deeds and suffering, while the latter is accumulated through doing wrong deeds. A person's ratio of karma to virtue is said to determine their fortunes in this life or the next. While virtue engenders good fortune and enables spiritual transformation, an accumulation of karma results in suffering, illness, and alienation from the nature of the universe.<ref name=Ownby110/><ref name="Pennyreligion">{{Cite book |last=Penny |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Penny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P6Z6fQ7Fg3QC |title=The Religion of Falun Gong |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-226-65501-7 |pages=217 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=23 September 2016 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191258/https://books.google.com/books?id=P6Z6fQ7Fg3QC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Li Hongzhi, "Zhuan Falun", pp.&nbsp;27–35, 362–65</ref> Spiritual elevation is achieved through the elimination of negative karma and the accumulation of virtue.<ref name=Pennyreligion/><ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=93}}: "The goal of cultivation, and hence of life itself, is spiritual elevation, achieved through eliminating negative karma—the built-up sins of past and present lives—and accumulating virtue."</ref> Practitioners believe that through a process of moral cultivation, one can achieve [[Tao]] and obtain special powers and a level of divinity.<ref name="penny">{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=158, 201}}</ref><ref name="timeint">{{Cite magazine |last=Dowell |first=William |title=Interview with Li Hongzhi |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001083402/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |archive-date=1 October 2018 |access-date=1 September 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Falun Gong's teachings posit that human beings are originally and innately good—even divine—but that they descended into a realm of delusion and suffering after developing selfishness and accruing karma.<ref name=":0">{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=135}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|pp=103–05}}</ref> The practice holds that [[reincarnation]] exists, with the cycle of rebirth shaped by the accumulation of karma—a concept somewhat analogous to the Christian notion of "reaping what one sows."<ref name="auto">{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=110}}</ref> This perspective helps explain the perceived unfairness of differences among individuals, such as between the rich and the poor, while also encouraging moral behavior despite these inequalities.<ref name="auto"/> To re-ascend and return to the "original, true self", Falun Gong practitioners are supposed to assimilate themselves to the qualities of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, let go of "attachments and desires" and suffer to repay karma.<ref name=Pennyreligion/><ref>{{harvp|Ownby|2008|p=93}}: "One finds few lists of do's and don'ts in Li's writings, nor are there sophisticated ethical discussions. Instead, followers are advised to rid themselves of unnecessary "attachments", to do what they know is right, and hence to return to "the origin", to their "original self".</ref>

Traditional Chinese cultural thought and opposition to modernity are two focuses of Li Hongzhi's teachings. Falun Gong echoes traditional Chinese beliefs that humans are connected to the universe through mind and body, and Li seeks to challenge "conventional mentalities", concerning the nature and genesis of the universe, time-space, and the human body.<ref name="Schechter">{{harvp|Schechter|2001}}</ref><ref name="Chou">{{cite book |last=Chou |first=Kai-Ti |title=Contemporary Religious Movements in Taiwan: Rhetorics of Persuasion |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7734-5241-1 |location=Lewiston, NY}}</ref> The practice draws on East Asian mysticism and traditional Chinese medicine, but claims to have the power to heal incurable illnesses. Falun Gong describes modern science as too limited, and views traditional Chinese research and practice as valid.<ref name="zhao">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Zhao |first=Yuezhi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiFY59xGHBkC&pg=PA209 |title=Falun Gong, Identity, and the Struggle over Meaning Inside and Outside China |encyclopedia=Contesting Media Power: Alternative Media in a Networked World |editor-first1=Nick |editor-last1=Couldry |editor-first2=James |editor-last2=Curran |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7425-2385-2 |access-date=23 September 2016 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191339/https://books.google.com/books?id=tiFY59xGHBkC&pg=PA209 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Li says that he is a being who has come to help humankind from the destruction it could face as the result of rampant evil. When asked if he was a human being, Li replied "You can think of me as a human being."{{sfn|Allen-Ebrahimian|2017}}<ref name="Time World 1999">{{cite magazine |last=Dowellc |first=William |date=10 May 1999 |title=Interview with Li Hongzhi |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=30 January 2021 |archive-date=1 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001083402/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbc2001-05-08">{{cite news |date=8 May 2001 |title=Who is Li Hongzhi? |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1223317.stm |access-date=20 May 2010 |archive-date=5 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505225343/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1223317.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the founder Li in his book, ''Zhuan Falun'', he claims to have cultivated supernatural powers starting at age eight.<ref>{{cite news |title=For Whom the Gong Tolls |author=Peter Carlson |date=27 February 2000 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/02/27/for-whom-the-gong-tolls/bab9382d-0b90-44da-b4ae-cef517460652/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=30 April 2023 |archive-date=12 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812131858/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/02/27/for-whom-the-gong-tolls/bab9382d-0b90-44da-b4ae-cef517460652/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to [[Radio France International]], ''Zhuan Falun'' also promises to teach practitioners to cultivate supernatural powers such as <nowiki>"see[ing]</nowiki> through a wall or into a human body".<ref>{{cite news |title=Were human organs stolen in 20-year conflict between Beijing and Falun Gong? |date=25 April 2019 |author=Jan van der Made |url=https://www.rfi.fr/en/asia-pacific/20190418-were-human-organs-stolen-20-year-conflict-between-beijing-and-falun-gong |publisher=RFI |access-date=30 April 2023 |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213013618/https://www.rfi.fr/en/asia-pacific/20190418-were-human-organs-stolen-20-year-conflict-between-beijing-and-falun-gong |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Exercises===
[[File:Five Exercises of Falun Dafa.jpg|thumb|The five exercises of Falun Gong]]
In addition to its moral philosophy, Falun Gong consists of four standing exercises and one sitting meditation. The exercises are regarded as secondary to moral elevation, though are still an essential component of Falun Gong cultivation practice.<ref name=Pennyreligion/>

The first exercises, called "Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms", are intended to facilitate the free flow of energy through the body and open up the meridians. The second exercise, "Falun Standing Stance", involves holding four static poses—each of which resembles holding a wheel—for an extended period. The objective of this exercise is to "enhances wisdom, increases strength, raises a person's level, and strengthens divine powers". The third, "Penetrating the Cosmic Extremes", involves three sets of movements, which aim to enable the expulsion of bad energy (e.g., [[pathogen]]ic or black {{transliteration|zh|qi}}) and the absorption of good energy into the body. Through practice of this exercise, the practitioner aspires to cleanse and purify the body. The fourth exercise, "Falun Cosmic Orbit", seeks to circulate energy freely throughout the body. Unlike the first through fourth exercises, the fifth exercise is performed in the seated [[lotus position]]. Called "Reinforcing Supernatural Powers", it is a meditation intended to be maintained as long as possible.<ref>Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong (6th Translation Edition, 2014)</ref><ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=163–68}}</ref>

Falun Gong exercises can be practiced individually or in group settings, and can be performed for varying lengths of time in accordance with the needs and abilities of the individual practitioner.<ref name="Ownby313"/> Porter writes that practitioners of Falun Gong are encouraged to read Falun Gong books and practice its exercises on a regular basis, preferably daily.<ref name="porterthesis">{{cite thesis |first=Noah |last=Porter |url=http://etd.fcla.edu/SF/SFE0000113/FalunGongInTheUS-NoahPorter-Thesis.pdf |title=Falun Gong in the United States: An Ethnographic Study |location=University of South Florida |date=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909042030/http://etd.fcla.edu/SF/SFE0000113/FalunGongInTheUS-NoahPorter-Thesis.pdf |archive-date=9 September 2006 }}</ref> Falun Gong exercises are practiced in group settings in parks, university campuses, and other public spaces in over 70 countries worldwide, and are taught for free by volunteers.<ref name=porterthesis/> In addition to five exercises, in 2001 another meditation activity was introduced called "sending righteous thoughts", which is intended to reduce persecution on the spiritual plane.<ref name=porterthesis/>

Discussions of supernatural skills also feature prominently within the {{transliteration|zh|qigong}} movement, and the existence of these skills gained a level of mainstream acceptance in China's scientific community in the 1980s.<ref name="Ownbyfuture">{{harvp|Ownby|2008}}</ref>{{rp|63–64}}Falun Gong's teachings hold that practitioners can acquire supernatural skills through a combination of moral cultivation, meditation and exercises. These include—but are not limited to—[[precognition]], [[clairaudience]], [[telepathy]], and divine sight (via the opening of the [[third eye]] or celestial eye). However, Falun Gong stresses that these powers can be developed only as a result of moral practice, and should not be pursued or casually displayed.<ref name="penny"/> According to David Ownby, Falun Gong teaches that "pride in one's abilities, or the desire to show off, are marks of dangerous attachments", and Li warns his followers not to be distracted by the pursuit of such powers.<ref name=Ownbyfuture/>{{rp|117}}

===Social practices===
[[File:Toronto Falun Gong Exercises 9.jpg|thumb|Falun Gong adherents practice the third exercise in Toronto.]]
Falun Gong differentiates itself from Buddhist monastic traditions in that it places great importance on participation in the [[secularism|secular]] world. Falun Gong practitioners are required to maintain regular jobs and family lives, to observe the laws of their respective governments, and are instructed not to distance themselves from society. An exception is made for Buddhist [[Bhikkhu]]s and [[Bhikkhunī]]s, who are permitted to continue a monastic lifestyle while practicing Falun Gong.<ref>{{harvp|Porter|2003|p=205}}</ref>

As part of its emphasis on ethical behavior, Falun Gong's teachings prescribe a strict personal morality for practitioners. They are expected to do good deeds, and conduct themselves with patience and forbearance when encountering difficulties. For instance, Li stipulates that a practitioner of Falun Gong must "not hit back when attacked, not talk back when insulted."<ref name=Penny102/> In addition, they must "abandon negative thoughts and behaviors", such as greed, deception, jealousy, etc.<ref name="Penny102">{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=102, 170–81}}</ref> The teachings contain injunctions against smoking and the consumption of alcohol, as these are considered addictions that are detrimental to health and mental clarity.<ref name=Ownby112/><ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=123}}</ref> Practitioners of Falun Gong are forbidden to kill living things—including animals for the purpose of obtaining food—though they are not required to adopt a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]] diet.<ref name=Penny102/>

In addition to these things, practitioners of Falun Gong must abandon a variety of worldly attachments and desires.<ref name="Benjamin Penny p 170"/> In the course of cultivation practice, the student of Falun Gong aims to relinquish the pursuit of fame, monetary gain, sentimentality, and other entanglements. Li's teachings repeatedly emphasize the emptiness of material pursuits; although practitioners of Falun Gong are not encouraged to leave their jobs or eschew money, they are expected to give up the psychological attachments to these things.<ref name=Ownby112/>

Falun Gong doctrine counsels against participation in political or social issues.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=48}}</ref> Excessive interest in politics is viewed as an attachment to worldly power and influence, and Falun Gong aims for transcendence of such pursuits. According to Hu Ping, "Falun Gong deals only with purifying the individual through exercise, and does not touch on social or national concerns. It has not suggested or even intimated a model for social change. Many religions{{nbsp}}[...] pursue social reform to some extent{{nbsp}}[...] but there is no such tendency evident in Falun Gong."<ref name="Ping">{{cite book |author=Hu Ping |chapter=The Falun Gong Phenomenon |title=Challenging China: Struggle and Hope in an Era of Change |editor1-first=Sharon |editor1-last=Hom |editor2-first=Stacy |editor2-last=Mosher |location=New York |publisher=The New Press |year=2007}}</ref>

Sexual desire and lust are treated as attachments to be discarded, though Falun Gong students are still generally expected to marry and have families.<ref name="Ownby112">{{harvp|Ownby|2008|pp=112–14}}</ref> All sexual relations outside the confines of [[monogamous]], [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] [[marriage]] are regarded as immoral.<ref name=wildgrass/>{{rp|211}}

Li Hongzhi taught that homosexuality makes one "unworthy of being human", creates bad karma, and is comparable to [[organized crime]].<ref name=Unworthy>{{cite book |last=Vuari |first=Juha |title=Critical Security and Chinese Politics: The Anti-Falungong Campaign |date=2014 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York City |isbn=9781138650282 |page=152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4rkbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT152 |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191340/https://books.google.com/books?id=4rkbBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT152 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name=Dictionary/><ref name=Fags>{{Cite journal |last1=Xinzhang |first1=Zhang |last2=Lewis |first2=James R. |date=2020 |title=The Gods Hate Fags: Falun Gong's Reactionary Social Teachings |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212327 |journal=[[Journal of Religion and Violence]] |publisher=[[Philosophy Documentation Center]] |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=281–297 |doi=10.5840/jrv202121679 |jstor=27212327 |s2cid=233958033 |issn=2159-6808 |url-access=subscription |access-date=18 February 2024 |archive-date=18 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218042615/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212327 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|285}} He also taught that "disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning",<ref name=Battle>{{cite news |last=Lubman |first=Sarah |title=A Chinese Battle on U.S. Soil |work=San Jose Mercury News |date=23 Dec 2001 |url=https://mercurynews.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F0E695A605AEBE9 |url-access=subscription |via=[[NewsBank]] |access-date=18 February 2024 |archive-date=14 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514025647/https://mercurynews.newsbank.com/sign-up?docref=doc/news/0F0E695A605AEBE9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Dictionary/> and that homosexuality is a "filthy, deviant state of mind".<ref name=Fags/>{{rp|283}}{{sfn|Perrone|Loucaides|2022|ref=:212}} Li additionally stated in a 1998 speech in Switzerland that the gods' "first target of annihilation would be homosexuals".<ref name=Dictionary>{{cite book |last=Harwood |first=William |title=Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology |date=2011 |publisher=World Audience Inc. |isbn=9781544601403 |page=162 |edition=3rd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbhODgAAQBAJ |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191342/https://books.google.com/books?id=UbhODgAAQBAJ |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Maria Hsia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cP93NP_0kmIC&pg=PA94 |via=[[Google Books]] |title=Falun Gong: The End of Days |date=2004 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0-300-10227-5 |location=New Haven, Connecticut |oclc=182530364 |page=94 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405191342/https://books.google.com/books?id=cP93NP_0kmIC&pg=PA94 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=James R. |title=Falun Gong: Spiritual Warfare and Martyrdom |date=3 May 2018 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1108445658 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=typyDwAAQBAJ |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405192343/https://books.google.com/books?id=typyDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Although gay, lesbian, and bisexual people may practice Falun Gong, founder Li stated that they must "give up the bad conduct" of all same-sex sexual activity.<ref name=Battle/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |last1=Lewis |first1=James |last2=Chao |first2=Huang |title=Falun Gong: Origins, Growth, Conflict |date=28 February 2020 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.677 |isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-677 |url-access=subscription |access-date=8 March 2023 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130193639/https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-677 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Conflicts between Falun Gong Teachings and Western Moral & Ethic Principles|journal=The Chinese Press|location=Montreal, Canada|date=9 Aug 2019|page=B12|url=https://issuu.com/chinesepress/docs/chinese_press_2019-08-09__1948b?e=2991871%2F72146325|access-date=12 January 2022|archive-date=12 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112030421/https://issuu.com/chinesepress/docs/chinese_press_2019-08-09__1948b?e=2991871%2F72146325|url-status=live}}</ref>

Falun Gong's cosmology includes the belief that different [[Ethnicity|ethnicities]] each have a correspondence to their own heavens, and that individuals of mixed race lose some aspect of this connection.<ref name=Dictionary/><ref name=Fags/>{{rp|286}}<ref name=Pennyreligion/>{{rp|217}} Falun Gong's teachings include  belief in [[reincarnation]] and that one's soul (original spirit) always maintains single racial identity despite having a body of mixed race.<ref name="Pennyreligion" /> Investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann noted that interracial marriage is common in the Falun Gong community.<ref name="Slaughter" />

===Texts===
Li Hongzhi authored the first book of Falun Gong teachings in April 1993; titled ''China Falun Gong'', or simply ''Falun Gong'', it is an introductory text that discusses {{transliteration|zh|qigong}}, Falun Gong's relationship to Buddhism, the principles of cultivation practice, and the improvement of moral character ({{transliteration|zh|xinxing}}). The book also provides illustrations and explanations of the exercises and meditation.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|pp=93–94}}</ref>

The main body of teachings is articulated in the book ''Zhuan Falun'', published in Chinese in January 1995. The book is divided into nine "lectures", and was based on edited transcriptions of the talks Li gave throughout China in the preceding three years.<ref>{{harvp|Penny|2012|p=97}}</ref> Falun Gong texts have since been translated into an additional 40 languages.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} In addition to these central texts, Li has published several books, lectures, articles and books of poetry, which are made available on Falun Gong websites.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

The Falun Gong teachings use numerous untranslated Chinese religious and philosophical terms, and make frequent allusion to characters and incidents in Chinese [[folk literature]] and concepts drawn from [[Chinese popular religion]]. This, coupled with the literal translation style of the texts, which imitate the colloquial style of Li's speeches, can make Falun Gong scriptures difficult to approach for Westerners.<ref name="Lowe">{{Cite journal |last=Lowe |first=Scott |date=2003 |title=Chinese and International Contexts for the Rise of Falun Gong |journal=Nova Religio |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=263–76 |df=dmy-all|doi=10.1525/nr.2003.6.2.263 }}</ref>

===Symbols===
The main symbol of the practice is the {{transliteration|zh|Falun}} ([[Dharma]] wheel, or {{transliteration|sa|[[Dharmacakra]]}} in [[Sanskrit]]). In Buddhism, the {{transliteration|sa|Dharmacakra}} represents the completeness of the doctrine. To "turn the wheel of dharma" ({{transliteration|zh|Zhuan Falun}}) means to preach the Buddhist doctrine, and is the title of Falun Gong's main text.<ref>{{cite journal | first=Benjamin | last=Penny | title=Falun Gong, Buddhism, and Buddhist qigong | journal=Asian Studies Review | issue=29 | date=March 2009}}</ref> Despite the invocation of Buddhist language and symbols, the law wheel as understood in Falun Gong has distinct connotations, and is held to represent the universe.<ref name=Bruseker/> It is conceptualized by an emblem consisting of one large and four small (counter-clockwise) [[swastika]] symbols, representing the Buddha, and four small [[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]] (yin-yang) symbols of the Daoist tradition.<ref name="Bruseker">George Bruseker, "Falun Gong: A Modern Chinese Folk Buddhist Movement in Crisis", 26 April 2000.</ref>

===Dharma-ending period===
Li situates his teaching of Falun Gong amidst the "Dharma-ending period" ({{transliteration|zh|Mo Fa}}, {{lang|zh|末法}}), described in Buddhist scriptures as an age of moral decline when the teachings of Buddhism would need to be rectified.<ref name=Pennyreligion/><ref name=Ownbyfuture/> The current era is described in Falun Gong's teachings as the "{{transliteration|zh|Fa}} rectification" period ({{transliteration|zh|zhengfa}}, which might also be translated as "to correct the dharma"), a time of cosmic transition and renewal.<ref name=Pennyreligion/> The process of {{transliteration|zh|Fa}} rectification is necessitated by the moral decline and degeneration of life in the universe, and in the post-1999 context, the [[persecution of Falun Gong]] by the Chinese government has come to be viewed as a tangible symptom of this moral decay.<ref name=burgdoff/> Through the process of the {{transliteration|zh|Fa}} rectification, life will be reordered according to the moral and spiritual quality of each, with good people being saved and ascending to higher spiritual planes, and bad ones being eliminated or cast down.<ref name="burgdoff">{{Cite journal |last=A Burgdoff |first=Craig |date=2003 |title=How Falun Gong Practice Undermines Li Hongzhi's Totalistic Rhetoric |journal=Nova Religio |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=332–47 |df=dmy-all|doi=10.1525/nr.2003.6.2.332 }}</ref> In this paradigm, Li assumes the role of rectifying the Dharma by disseminating through his moral teachings.<ref name=Pennyreligion/><ref name="Palmer">{{harvp|Palmer|2007}}</ref>

Some scholars, such as Maria Hsia Chang and Susan Palmer, have described Li's rhetoric about the "{{transliteration|zh|Fa}} rectification" and providing salvation "in the final period of the Last Havoc" as [[Apocalypticism|apocalyptic]].<ref name=fieldnotes/><ref name="Chang">{{Cite book |last=Chang |first=Maria Hsia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cP93NP_0kmIC |title=Falun Gong: The End of Days |date=2008-10-01 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-13317-2 |via=[[Google Books]] |url-access=limited |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407102640/https://books.google.com/books?id=cP93NP_0kmIC |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|91}} However, [[Benjamin Penny]], a professor of Chinese history at the [[Australian National University]], argues that Li's teachings are better understood in the context of a "Buddhist notion of the cycle of the Dharma or the Buddhist law".<ref name="ABC">{{Cite web|date=2001-04-21|title=Falun Gong: Cult or Culture?|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/falun-gong-cult-or-culture/3481242
|author= Chris Bullock, producer
|access-date=2023-02-10|website=ABC Radio National|language=en-AU|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210134441/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/falun-gong-cult-or-culture/3481242|url-status=live}}</ref> Richard Gunde wrote that, unlike apocalyptic groups in the [[Western world|West]], Falun Gong does not fixate on death or the end of the world, and instead "has a simple, innocuous ethical message".<ref name="Gunde">Richard Gunde, "Culture and Customs of China", (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002).</ref> Li Hongzhi does not discuss a "time of reckoning",<ref name=ABC/> and has rejected predictions of an impending apocalypse in his teachings.<ref>{{harvp|Schechter|2001|p=57}}</ref>

=== Extraterrestrials ===
Li in the 1990s repeated claims that [[Extraterrestrial life|aliens]] were responsible for scientific inventions through the manipulation of scientists.<ref>Graeme Lang and Lu Yunfeng, "Assimilation of 'New Age' Beliefs into Cults and New Religions in East and Southest Asia", in ''New Age'', edited by Michaela Moravčíková, 306–22. Bratislava: Ústav pre vzťahy štátu a cirkví, 2005. P. 317.</ref> For example, in a 1999 interview with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', Li attributed the invention of computers and airplanes to extraterrestrials, as well as war and violence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=DOWELL |first=WILLIAM |date=1999-05-10 |title=Interview with Li Hongzhi |language=en-US |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |access-date=2023-12-12 |issn=0040-781X |archive-date=29 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529183738/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053761,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, his position on aliens seemed fairly inconsistent to observers Graeme Lang and Lu Yunfeng.<ref>Graeme Lang and Lu Yunfeng, "Assimilation of 'New Age' Beliefs into Cults and New Religions in East and Southest Asia", in ''New Age'', edited by Michaela Moravčíková, 306–22. Bratislava: Ústav pre vzťahy štátu a cirkví, 2005. P. 319.</ref> In the ''Time'' interview, Li believed that aliens were attempting to replace humans through a [[cloning]] process, in which human bodies would be cloned with no soul, so that the aliens can replace the soul and inhabit human bodies (which to him are perfect).<ref name=":1" />

Li Hongzhi alleged that extraterrestrials disguise themselves as humans to corrupt and manipulate humanity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Farley |first=Helen |title=Controversial New Religions |title-link=Controversial New Religions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-515682-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |edition=2nd |location=New York |language=en |chapter=Falun Gong: A Narrative of Pending Apocalypse, Shape-Shifting Aliens, and Relentless Persecution |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first2=Jesper Aa. |pages=248–249}}</ref> According to an ABC investigation, while some practitioners stated that this was metaphorical, a former member said she was taught it as literal truth.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Eric |last2=Cohen |first2=Hagar |date=2020-07-30 |title=When Anna was 14, her mother set up a 'special appointment' with The Master |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-21/inside-falun-gong-master-li-hongzhi-the-mountain-dragon-springs/12442518 |access-date=2023-12-12 |archive-date=8 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908073144/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-21/inside-falun-gong-master-li-hongzhi-the-mountain-dragon-springs/12442518 |url-status=live }}</ref>