This article was first published in January 2005.
(Minghui.org) Since the fire on the eve of the Chinese New Year in Tiananmen Square four years ago, the CCP media has had a new topic for "exposing and criticizing" Falun Gong. With the Chinese New Year right around the corner, the Xinhua News Agency and CCTV is focusing once again on this old news, which it repeats every year. The purpose of all this propaganda is to repeatedly emphasize the lie that the "self-immolators" are Falun Gong practitioners, and that Falun Gong teaches people to commit suicide.
This is such strange logic, not to mention the fact that the Chinese government absolutely refuses requests from overseas Falun Dafa practitioners to have third parties interview those victims of the incident independently and to investigate their motives.
Although the Xinhua News Agency, as well as other Chinese media sources, have repeatedly and falsely claimed that actions of the "self-immolators" were influenced by the Falun Gong founder's article "Towards Consummation," the censoring of all internet sources and the destruction of Falun Gong books has made it impossible for people to learn what "Towards Consummation" is actually about. This is not too difficult to explain now in hindsight, because once people can read the article, they can tell for themselves who is lying and who is not. Another example is that at the beginning of the persecution, CCTV used heavily edited quotes from Mr. Li Hongzhi's Dalian lecture as "evidence" that Falun Gong does not allow people to visit their doctor. In fact Mr. Li Hongzhi was telling practitioners to not use qigong to cure others because they might harm their own body. CCTV edited the entire paragraph, creating the impression that the lecture was instructing people to not go to the hospital.
Consummation is an old concept from ancient Buddhism and Daoism, the goal of which is for cultivators to reach a high realm which is selfless, opening a door to extraordinary wisdom, enlightening to the truth of the universe and life. For instance Sakyamuni in ancient India and Dharma, a monk in Shaolin Temple, both reached consummation during their time while still alive, showing that consummation does not come with death. Furthermore, Falun Gong clearly forbids killing and suicide with the belief that killing and suicide are extremely serious sins. Anyone committing such an act would almost inevitably bring their cultivation to ruin. It is impossible for anyone to achieve consummation by killing or suicide.
According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on August 17, 2001, the notion of reaching "consummation" by suicide came from one of the planners of the incident, Liu Yunfang (male). The report said, "Liu Yunfang, Wang Jindong (male), and Xue Hongjun (male), and others gathered in Jubaozhai (a store) on Yu Street, and Huaxia Painting Store on Pu-an Street in Kaifeng City, Henan Province, to spread the evil theory of reaching consummation by self-immolation. Liu Yunfang even printed booklets called 'Consummation,' and passed them out at the gathering to practitioners. Liu was sentenced to a life sentence in prison for this crime." However, the true details are still waiting to be investigated by an independent third party. Based on the report of the Xinhua News Agency, Jiang and his regime admitted in 2001 that it was Liu Yunfang's "Consummation" idea that guided practitioners to reach "consummation" by self-immolation. Assuming that Liu Yunfang did practice Falun Dafa, his personal writings can only reflect his own beliefs and can never be considered as Falun Dafa teachings. There are tens of millions of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. Why have none of these other followers of Falun Dafa committed the act of self-immolation? It is patently obvious that self-immolation has nothing to do with the teaching of Falun Dafa.
According to legal procedures for providing evidence, whoever accuses Falun Gong must provide convincing evidence to prove that "self-immolation" is taught by Falun Gong. We have not seen any such evidence being provided by Jiang and his regime in the past four years. We want to ask the Xinhua News Agency this question: which part of the Falun Gong teachings directly or indirectly hints at self-immolation or suicide? If the evidence exists, why not publish it in the Xinhua News Agency's reports?
The Chinese government-controlled media has repeatedly used the "self-immolation" incident as propaganda, but it is not concerned whether those "self-immolators" have any connection with Falun Gong teachings. Their focus is on inciting Chinese people's hatred of Falun Gong and paving the way for the persecution.
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