Thursday, April 12, 2001

By Vivi Hoang

Reporter-News Staff Writer

Beneath the muted lights of the Abilene Public Library auditorium, 32-year-old June Liu sits cross-legged, meditating with a group of four others, her shoes neatly stacked beside her.

Had she been doing that in China, she could easily have been jailed - at the least.

Liu practices Falun Gong, a combination of moral principals and slow-motion exercises similar to tai chi or yoga. For the past year and a half, the Chinese government has aggressively pursued members of the spiritual movement, seeking to extinguish what they see as an organized threat.

"The Chinese government, they never allow the people's free thinking," Liu said. "They never allow it because it threatens their power."

Unlike similar exercises, which focus only on body movement, the practice also relies on principles meant to help practitioners improve their inner self, advocates say. Its philosophy revolves around three main concepts: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

To raise public awareness and share what they believe is a physically and spiritually beneficial practice, Liu and her 32-year-old husband, Hongyi Pan, both residents of San Antonio, have spent the past year giving free Falun Gong workshops around the state, including two in Abilene.

Another free workshop is planned for this Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is one variety of similar Chinese exercises dating back thousands of years. The practice did not begin to find a global audience until 1992, and has since spread largely by word of mouth. The Falun Dafa Quarterly reports the practice has 100 million followers in more than 40 countries.

Followers claim practicing Falun Gong has improved their health, relieved stress, improved their morality and helped them attain inner peace.

"The exercise plus the principles together - it's really powerful," Pan said. "When you practice it, you can get fresh energy from the universe and transform the body."

Claims of miraculous healing are commonplace within the practice. Liu credits Falun Gong for making her allergies disappear and for curing her mother of osteoporosis.

While there is no scientific way to affirm such claims, practices such as Falun Gong are medically valuable for their holistic approach toward healing, said Avron Boretz, an associate professor of Asian studies at the University of Texas.

"Falun Gong or any faith-based healing practice first of all addresses the human suffering that illness brings about, whether psychological distress or physical distress," he said. "It looks to heal the whole person. In that sense, it can be an very important factor in the lives of people who are suffering illness."

Persecuted practice

People in the United States often find interest in Falun Gong because of its eastern mystique and similarities to other New Age movements, Boretz said. But those in China turned to the movement - as well as other practices or religions - because of the "spiritual vacuum" left in the country in the 1980s after the Cultural Revolution.

Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, ignited the revolution in 1967 when he began mobilizing the country's urban youth to strengthen his power and prevent China from turning to the social and political ways of Russia. It threw the country into anarchy for 10 years.

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That fear was again fed when, two years ago, 10,000 Falun Gong members quietly gathered and meditated in front of the compound next to Tiananmen Square, where the country's top government authorities live. They were objecting to the mistreatment of Falun Gong members, although an actual campaign against the group had not been organized - yet.

Authorities suddenly realized how widespread the movement was.

"To central authorities, this meant a distinct threat - not just a symbolic, but a real, practical threat," Boretz said. "Falun Gong is pretty harmless and the Chinese government has reacted out of all proportion to the reality of the threat that it presents."

In October 1999, the government formally declared Falun Gong a [slanderous word], which is banned under the Chinese Criminal Code, according to the most recent annual world report from Human Rights Watch. Since then, the trials of at least eight [over 500 -- editor] Falun Gong leaders have led to prison sentences of between two and 18 years, the report said.

But members persist, continuing with their peaceful protest.

"What they have been doing is to peacefully appeal to the government and tell people the truth, tell people what Falun Gong is," Pan said. "It's just self-improvement, it's not involved in politics. It's good for the people."

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