Are there any former Falun Gong members on this forum that can help shed light on the life of a Falun Gong practicioner? While Falun Dafa was only founded in 1992 (according to Rick Ross) how was the experience in leaving the "practice" and are you being harrassed to re-join?

I used to practice Falun Gong. Being in a Falun Gong practitioner, or a "Dafa disciple", was really a nightmare to me. After being brainwashed by Falun Gong books, I started thinking about weird things everyday. Since Li Hongzhi told me that “Dafa” is the priority in my life, I have to do the so-called “three things” assigned by “Master Li”, which are reading Falun Gong books and practice Falun Gong exercises, clarifying the truth (which ranges from volunteering at Falun Gong headquarters’ construction site, distributing Falun Gong newspapers, to persuading others to buy “Divine Performing Arts” show tickets), and the “sending forth righteous thoughts” (which is chanting “The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the Evil is completely eliminated, etc.” in Chinese). During the several years of Falun Gong experience, I almost committed suicide several times, when I felt so impossible to meet Master Li’s requirements, as I was “saved from hell by Master Li”. I didn’t kill myself because I was afraid that I might become “the daemon who undermines Dafa”, and “everyday people (people who do not practice Falun Gong)” might not be “saved” once they heard that a Falun Gong practitioner suicides.
One of things that bother me the most is that, Falun Gong does not allow me to read any information from other religion or meditation practice, not to mention any those critics which might make one practitioner “evilly enlightens”. Li Hongzhi even encourages us not to touch any “everyday people’s” information, including books, newspapers, TV programs, music, movies, etc. because we are on incredibly higher levels than “everyday people” and cannot be polluted by them. This makes my situation very bad because I don’t know how to make friends with normal people now. It seems that I have no words with people in the society.
I used to join a lot of Falun Gong “clarifying the truth” projects, such as editing newspaper, protesting in front of Chinese embassy, participating in Falun Gong parades, condemning Chinese Communist government in Falun Gong forums in many cities, etc. I started to doubt Falun Gong’s ideology when the important project I joined was suddenly cancelled. A lot of people who used to work for the project were so angry because the cancellation was so sudden, and few months ago we even heard from Li Hongzhi that we were doing a good job on it. Li Hongzhi taught us “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance”; however, he and other Falun Gong leaders never acts truthfully.
Another point that forces me to think about Falun Gong is the death that occurred at the construction site of Dragon Springs retreat (Falun Gong people call it “the mountain”), Falun Gong’s headquarter and where Li Hongzhi lives, in Cuddebackville, NY. (http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/NEWS/805060313/-1/NEWS14) That practitioner who fell to his death when working on the construction site was so unfortunate. I actually used to go there and work there. All of the workers are volunteers. None of them wears safety cap, and no safety symbols or signs is displayed on anywhere of the tens of millions of dollars worth of construction. In fact, those kids from Falun Gong’s “Divine Performing Arts’” dancing companies were forced to train in that building while construction is going on over the roof or at the hallway on the other side of the wall.
Since Li Hongzhi lives there and is highly involved in the construction and “Divine Performing Arts”, at the time when I was there I thought there’s nothing wrong with that, as Li Hongzhi would definitely protect all of us, in this “Dafa holy place” (as the words on a stone reads, inside the front gate, with Master Li’s signature). Therefore after I read from the Middletown newspaper that a practitioner died there, I couldn’t get my mind straight. I couldn’t convince myself that Li Hongzhi did nothing wrong with that. However, if Li Hongzhi made a huge mistake, his words like “remember, everything I did is correct, “what I have given and arranged for practitioners are the best” would be a bunch of nonsense.
Afterwards I started to do research about Falun Gong and read those critics online. Little by little I realized that Falun Gong is a destructive cult. One of the most destructive point is it makes you think that you don’t have any decease no more, and therefore should not receive any medical treatment. I heard numerous cases of death of Falun Gong practitioners because of avoiding medical treatment. In our internal email list, we frequently heard that one practitioner in some city needs us to “send forth righteous thoughts” to eliminate the “evil’s serious interference to that practitioner’s body”.
However I never talk my thoughts to any other Falun Gong practitioner. My fellow practitioners still think that I’m one of them. When one “Falun Gong” project asks me to help them, I tell them that I’m busy in another “Falun Gong” project, and when another project asks me, I say the same thing. Falun Gong practitioners are isolated in different projects. I try to avoid any contact with any Falun Gong practitioners, because I know I’m not good at lying. If I talk to them, they may feel that my words are not “righteous”. I don’t want to be labeled as “Chinese Communist Evil Party’s secret agent” and receive practitioners’ harassment, as many innocent Falun Gong practitioners were.
You have to be really smart when dealing with Falun Gong. A lot of Falun Gong project directors worry a lot about their power and control. If you become too active in this organization you might get a lot of trouble. The best way to get rid of Falun Gong is to avoid contacting them. After a long time they will forget you, as they are busy “exposing Chinese Communist Evil Party’s evilness” now.

by the way, here is a good English anti-Falun Gong website, updated regularly:
http://www.facts.org.cn/

Thank you, NoMoreFLG for your honesty and your story. The Rick Ross websites work hard to assist ex-members in an abusive church/sect with the support and encouragement of the RR community. I hope you can be an active participant here to educate and to offer your example to other Falun Gong (Falun Dafa) members who need your strength to help them get away as well.

Here is some food for thought provided by Rick Ross...

[www.asianpacificpost.com]

I was a Falun Gong practitioner during 2001 / 2002. I decided to stop practicing after one year. I was called by some of the other practicioners when I stopped attending Falun Dafa meetings, but they did not pressure me in any way. Eight years later I decided to start reading Falun Gong again because it teaches valuable lessons and insights into life. I don't think describing Falun Dafa groups as a cult is accurate. Falun Dafa members are generous and very nice people in general. I wish I could say something to help NoMoreFLG feel less upset. Please contact me if you would like to talk to me!

Mike

MikeBezeau:

Do you believe the claims made by Li Hongzhi about his supposed supernatural powers?

Do you think Li Hongzhi's racist and homophobic teachings are "valuable lessons"?

Do "generous and very nice people" promote such hateful beliefs?

People who practice Falun Dafa develop some 'supernatural powers', and I am sure that Teacher Li has 'supernatural powers'. That makes sense to me. Many people in our world have supernatural powers, it is nothing to be afraid of.

To be honest, my local Pastor is more homophobic then Mr. Hongzhi.

I'm posting here because I am a "Former Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa) member". This is my feedback for your website, I don't think Falun Dafa is a cult. They are good people.

MikeBezeau:

You believe that Hongzhi and his followers have supernatural powers, don't object to the hateful teachings of the group, read Falun Gong literature, but say you are somehow categorized as a "'Former Falun Gong...member"?

You seem to be a true believer.

I feel very good about Falun Dafa.

People all accross the world read Faul Dafa books, their race does not matter. Falun Dafa has nothing to do with hatred.

Why do you believe that Falun Dafa teachings are hateful?

Mike

MikeBezeau:

See [www.culteducation.com]

Excerpted from above paper--

In Mr. Li's worldview mixed-race people are part of a plot, contrived by the evil extraterrestrials. "By mixing the races of humans, the aliens make humans cast off gods," he told a gathering in Switzerland in 1998.

"Mixed races" are supposedly excluded from the "truth" and "have lost their roots, as if nobody in the paradise will take care of them. They belong to nowhere, and no places would accept them...the higher levels do not recognize such a human race."

According to Mr. Li, the offspring of mixed race unions are therefore "intellectually incomplete" or "with an incomplete body." In such cases, only he, Master Li, can help and "take care of it" (i.e., resolve the "incomplete" state). However, that can be done only if "such a person wants to practice cultivation."

Li Hongzhi also encourages hatred of homosexuals. He has said, "The disgusting homosexuality shows the dirty abnormal psychology of the gay who has lost his ability of reasoning at the present time," Li Hongzhi wrote in Volume II of "Zhuan Falun," or "Turning the Law Wheel," which was translated into English in 1996.

In his talk in Switzerland, Li Hongzhi also stated that gay people would be "eliminated" by "the gods." Asked in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1998 whether gays could practice Falun Gong, Mr. Li answered, "You can cultivate, but you must give up the bad conduct."

Li Hongzhi's disciples are taught to subordinate their own thoughts and feelings to the teachings of Falun Dafa. They essentially come to believe that "Master Li" has arranged everything and is their protection.

In describing her experience with Falun Dafa, cult expert and clinical psychologist Margaret Singer said that a practitioner will "actually say 'Don't Think. Just recite the Master's teaching.' "