in response to the negative aspects of this thread, i have learned understood both yang and chen styles of tai chi , and have studied at least 5 other forms of chi gung, and have just recently come accross falan dafa and the set of movements that are taught although simple are very powerful in bringing about postitive changes in ones life, the movements although simple are healthier and more positive than most tai chi and chi gung sets. im not sure about the book havnt read it but if you r thinking about investing years in to a complex martial art or chi gung system dont waste your time go straight to the truth which can be found in the movements of falun dafa. As for it being a cult if well thats just plain ignorance and lack of intelligence and common sense. peace
"...go straight to the truth..."-- gosh,that sounds like a rather cultish statement right there. A not unusual sounding evangelical utterance from a beginner in a system. Whose truth? Care to expound why these methods are healthier and more positive than others.Also,what exactly does "more positive" mean? Those who dedicate themselves to "a complex martial art" are usually following a path to gain martial skill. Does Falun do that? If not then the part of your statement touching on complex MAs is superfluous. It's all well and good to be a member/beginner of something and come on here to defend it against other's opinions.Happens all the time.Especially in the first posting by such individuals. However if you wish to have any weight given to your opinions how about letting us know how experienced you are in these things? Stating you have "learned understood both yang and chen styles of tai chi " doesn't say much. You may have just learned some forms or could be a long time disciple of a lineage holder.How do we know? Who did you study the Chen and Yang systems with and for how long? How long have you been practicing? What was your focus,exercise or martial development? When you say "forms" of ch'i gung do you mean entire systems,or just some various ch'i gungs? Sorry if you don't wish to hear it and maybe things are different now but there was certainly some culty behavior,at least in the early years of Falun Gong in the US. Are you familiar with this? Were you paying attention to this group years ago? Some people were. I think this is the necro record on MAP. So since you felt it was important enough to express your opinions in this old,dusty thread how about some substance to your points rather than vagaries?
Probably cause its a dangerous cult based around worshiping the leader Li Hongzhi, or at least that’s what it used to be, probably reworked their marketing now. I have read several of their founding texts a good few years ago now (10+), their contents were basically large amounts of ideas plagiarized from Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity, with a large amount of demons and malevolent forces thrown in. In essence these say that if you don’t worship the leader (Li Hongzhi) as per prescribed methodology, he cant protect you and you are in big trouble from demons etc. In essence, its scaremongering in order to get you to follow their system. As part of my research I had also spent a large amount of time on their forums and it seemed to me that the majority of people there were severely out of touch with reality, mentally unstable, generally unwilling to discuss anything of their system in a logical manner and blindly following their bizarre religious texts. There are some links further back in this tread to some crazy news stories involving this group, not sure if they still work though. Anyway, just my own experience…
It's a personality cult around Li Hongzhi. Talk to any REAL Falun Gong people - not the uninformed sympathises you'll find in Taiji circles, but REAL Falun Gong followers and it will be pretty obvious. I've met a few in Florida when I was teaching there. You can't even get a small, low-res image of the founder on their web site because they feel that only a super-high-res image is appropriate for veneration. They are a dangerous cult that goes out of its way to hide its true agenda from western media so they can gain sympathy (very much like PETA in that way).
I've lived in comunism all of my childhood, and I know verry well how they react when something thakes ppl's focus, and it is not flouting in their direction. FG gheathers more ppl than comunist party. But, I'm not woried about the political aspects of FG, for me this is just normal behavior of CP. My doubts are connected whit esoterical role of FG. Couse, I was a practicioner, and there is no Yoga, no Qi gong, no Tai Qi, however, no energetical practise wich gives that amouth of energy. Altough, the bigest reason to join this page was this topic. Hope to be understandiblle...
