In May of 1992, an astounding Qigong practice caused a sensation in the capitol city of China, Beijing. With its profound principles and miraculous effects, it took this ancient city by storm. The news got around fast, and word spread from person to person. Very quickly, it found its way to over 40 countries and regions around the world and has been warmly welcomed by those governments. In a short few years, it has attracted one hundred million followers.  

This is the “Falun Dafa” that Mr. Li Hongzhi established.  

[Falun Dafa ¾ The path of returning to one’s true self. ] 

Since the beginning of civilization, mankind has always been drawn to explore the meaning of human life. Our ancestors believed that the human body is part of the integrated entity of the immense universe, and through cultivating the mind and body, harmony between humans and the universe can be achieved.  

People called methods of cultivation the Tao [the Way], or Fa [the Law]. They longed for the opportunity to listen to great enlighten beings teaching the Tao and lecturing on Fa in person.  

Throughout history, cultivation practice has been enshrouded in a veil of religion. People kept their faith in orthodox religions, stayed away from evil and believed in goodness, cultivated their selves and nurtured their character, and believed that this would lead them to return to the wonderful worlds from whence they came. For this reason, they lived a free, fulfilling life and were full of hope for the future. 

In order to pursue cultivation, some gave up their comfortable life and went into the mountains to cultivate the Tao in solitude – they took nothing with them. Upon reaching modern times, however, people no longer know what true cultivation is about. And their goal is to acquire more things, rather than give them up. 

This indulgence in material comfort and the pursuit to satisfy material desire has gradually become the predominant ideology of contemporary human beings. The exploration into human life and the universe from the perspective of spirituality is often regarded as something beyond reach, or even something superstitious.  

The material comfort and satisfaction provided by modern technology has, at the same time, however, caused people to suffer from anguish and exhaustion, as a result of their having to be constantly working and on the run.  

Are there still cultivation practices that transcend the ordinary and depart from worldly mediocrity, to elevate the spirit and uplift both the mind and the body?  

One day in 1992, Mr. Li Hongzhi and a few of his students attended the International Health Expo in Beijing, and introduced the public to a cultivation practice that he established ¾ Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong. With his profound teachings and supernatural abilities, he won the hearts of those at the Expo. At the conference, Falun Dafa was awarded the highest recognition, and Mr. Li Hongzhi was given the title of “the most popular Qigong master.”  

In the two years following the Expo, at the invitation of local Qigong associations around China, Mr. Li Hongzhi taught Falun Dafa and visited almost all major cities in China. Close to twenty thousand people attended the seminars that Mr. Li Hongzhi personally taught. The number of students reached up to four or five thousand in each of the seminars offered by Mr. Li in the later period of his teaching. This was unprecedented.  

In his teachings, Mr. Li Hongzhi unveiled a secret hardly known by most people: that Qigong practice is cultivation, while cultivation originated from prehistoric civilization.  

Prehistoric civilization is also called prehistoric culture, which is being studied nowadays to a great extent. Scientists today are preoccupied with studying ancient civilizations and prehistoric cultures in order to discover the roots of human life, and understand the meaning behind the mystical relics and artifacts that remain standing today. In June 1968, American scientist William Meister found a trilobite fossil with a human footprint on it. The footprint was left by someone who wore shoes. The trilobite is a creature that existed between 600 million and 260 million years ago. Meister’s discovery proves that human beings existed at that time and that, moreover, they had a certain degree of civilization.  

In the same year, American scientist Dr. Valentine(?) discovered a huge under-seas edifice near the islands of the Bahamas. After some tests, it was determined that this architectural structure had a history of 10 thousand years. Later, a huge stone wall was found under water near the North _____ Islands.  

There have been many similar discoveries. Scientists publicly acknowledge that their discoveries are relics of prehistoric civilizations existing long before this present human civilization. It is also known that in every civilization there were saints, or enlightened beings, born who taught people methods of cultivation. At the beginning of this human civilization, there were Lao-tse, Sakyamuni in the East, and Jesus in the West. Even though they were oceans and continents apart, the teachings they imparted were very similar. 

Similar to any orthodox practice, Falun Gong has also been passed down from a very remote age. Mr. Li Hongzhi modified it to accommodate modern times and has made it public for the purpose of helping people elevate themselves to high levels. In his lectures, Mr. Li pointed out that there are two fundamental reasons as to why people’s cultivation energy doesn’t grow as they practice qigong. One is that they don’t know the principles at high levels so they don’t know how to practice cultivation. The second is that they haven’t paid attention to cultivating their xin-xing [“mind nature;” moral quality]. Mr. Li said, “There exists a fundamental characteristic in this universe. It can be summarized in three words and they are: Zhen, Shan, Ren [Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance].” Mr. Li also expounded on the correlation between qigong practice and sports, and qigong and religion. And he explained the fundamental cause of illness, the relationship between Chinese and Western medical practices, and the difference between alternative qigong healing and traditional hospital treatment.  

In 1995, Mr. Li compiled the contents of these lectures into a book, Zhuan Falun, to provide systematic guidelines for people to cultivate themselves in their quest to achieve higher levels of enlightenment. Those in search of a genuine cultivation system have literally climbed the highest mountains and crossed the deepest rivers to find the well-known masters. But after coming upon Falun Dafa and reading Zhuan Falun, however, they discovered that they had found the very thing they had been searching for all their lives. They found in this one book the answers to the questions they had for many years about the universe, life, mankind, and cultivation.  

Among Falun Dafa cultivators, there are people of all different professions and all different ages – from elderly Tai Chi masters to young children. There are also many people from the scientific community, who have Masters and Doctoral degrees, and people who are medical doctors and college professors. Even though they’ve mastered the most advanced technology, they can still see flaws in today’s science. And upon listening to Mr. Li’s flawless explanations of the human body, matter, morality, illnesses, time-space, and the universe, they were drawn to China’s ancient cultivation culture and stepped into the practice of cultivation as well.  

In his book and in his lectures, Mr. Li expounds on the different meanings of Zhen-Shan-Ren [Truth-Compassion-Tolerance] at different levels. He also explained how to cultivate xin-xing, how to be a good person – or even a better person – by giving many vivid examples in everyday life.  

An article entitled “Anonymous Elder Quietly Gives to the Community” published in the March 17th issue of the Dalian Daily, reported that an elderly man in one year quietly built four public roadways totaling 3,500 feet for his community. When asked which organizations he belonged to and how much money he was paid, he said, “I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner. I don’t want money for doing a little something for others.”  

On February 16th, the Beijing Daily published a reader’s letter praising an anonymous young man from Beijing who donated 80,000 yen to the Research Institute of Lanchow Chemical Company and 100,000 yen to China Petroleum Science and Research Institute. This Beijing donor explained that it was through cultivation practice in Falun Dafa that he gained new understanding about the meaning of life, the purpose of life, and what it means to cultivate xin-xing.  

During the 1998 Yantzee River flood in Wuhan, there was a group of people who worked day and night as the vanguard for the rescue effort, all on a voluntary basis without any type of financial reward. When journalists eventually asked who they were, they replied: “We are Falun Dafa cultivators.” During that time, many of the names of the financial donors broadcast on Wuhan’s television were “Falun Gong practitioners.”  

Among the 100 million people practicing Falun Dafa , there are countless similar examples in the aspect of xin-xing improvement and moral transcendence. Contemporary science has discovered that a person’s mental and emotional state directly affect his physical health. Dafa practitioners’ xin-xing improvement has resulted in significant improvement in their physical health. In September of 1998, a research team staffed by medical school faculty members and other specialists conducted a study on the mental and physical health of over 10,000 Falun Dafa practitioners in over ten cities in Guangdong province. According to the study, the number of practitioners who had suffered from at least one ailment before they started practicing Falun Dafa was close to 10,000. After practicing cultivation for a few months or 2 or 3 years, 70% of them either fully recovered or basically recovered, saving over12 million yen a year in medical costs.  

In February of 1999, U.S. News and World Report quoted a senior official from China’s Sports Commission as saying “Each Falun Gong practitioner saves the country 1,000 yen each year. If there are 100 million people practicing, the savings in medical costs is 100 billion yen. This amount of money can be used elsewhere for the country.” 

Falun Dafa is a practice that cultivates both the mind and the body. In addition to the part about cultivating xin-xing, there is also the part about practicing the exercises. Its five sets of gentle exercises are easy to learn, and anyone ¾ the old as well as the young ¾ can learn. Although the movements are only a few, what’s being practiced is quite thorough. As soon as one begins practicing, places where energy is congested in the body are opened up, large amounts of energy from the universe are absorbed in, and very quickly the waste substances in the body are eliminated so that the body is cleansed and purified.  

In other traditional cultivation practices, people spend large amounts of time exercising or meditating, and when they stop, their cultivation stops. In those practices it’s not possible for the practitioners to practice 24 hours a day. However, the energy mechanisms that Falun Dafa cultivators carry in their bodies function 24 hours a day and do not stop. Mr. Li call this phenomenon “Fa cultivating people.” When a cultivator practices the exercises, Falun (which is a continually spinning Law wheel) and the energy mechanisms in his body are reinforced. This has solved the problem wherein people don’t haven enough time to practice because of their busy schedules and the resulting conflicts between work and practice time.  

The cultivation principles of Falun Dafa are based on the universe’ theory of evolution. The universe is constantly rotating. That’s why the practice is not concerned with time, location, and orientation. There is no mind-intent and its practitioners won’t go astray. 

Although the efficacy of Falun Dafa is quite miraculous, Mr. Li Hongzhi absolutely prohibits his students from using this practice to obtain person gains. He frequently points out that the imparting of Dafa is to guide people to practice cultivation toward high levels, and he requires that his students seek neither fame nor profit, conduct no worship of any individual, teach the practice on a voluntary basis, and not get involved in politics. This has caused quite a stir in today’s society, which is one based on personal gain and monetary compensation. Many people do not believe it, and do not understand it, but more people have decidedly joined in. Falun Dafa cultivators and their “free teaching” banners can be seen everywhere, in public parks and plazas. Their beautiful music and peaceful, slow movements amidst bustling crowds and noisy traffic is a noticeable contrast and seems to offer a piece of pure land in the midst of chaos.  

On October 12, 1996, Mr. Li Hongzhi came to Houston, Texas, for the first time to teach Falun Dafa. Houston’s city government issued a proclamation to name that day “Li Hongzhi day.” Washington, D.C., declared August 9^th through 13^th, 1999 to be Falun Dafa week. On June 25, three officials from the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago issued awards to Mr. Li and declared June 25^th to be “Illinois Falun Dafa Day” and “Chicago Master Li Hongzhi Day.”  

Since 1992, Falun Dafa has won over 100 awards of recognition in over forty countries worldwide. This is indeed like what’s said: 

“Those who hear about it look for it,

Those who obtained it treasure it,

The number grows day by day,

And they are countless.” 

Throughout the ages, to practice cultivation and obtain the Tao has been the dream for countless generations of people. For this dream, many left behind their wealth, possessions, and families to search for it – painfully and painstakingly. Today, Mr. Li Hongzhi has already laid this Truth, this Great Law ¾ this Dafa ¾ at the feet of everyone. Please be very sure not to miss this chance of a lifetime.

[Cherish it ¾ the path of returning to your true self is right in front of you!]

Falun Dafa is in this human world;

Near or far, all are related through predestination.