1. An opening remark starting from the incidence of Consul Wei owing debt.

I am a loyal reader of all types of newspapers in the Chinese community of Montreal. Since last April when the Communist Party started to crack down on Falun Gong, oftentimes there have been articles that viciously criticize Falun. However, I could not see where their logic was. Amidst such ironical criticism, I, although in Canada, often felt as if I was brought back to China again. I think in a democratic society like Canada, let's not model from China's autocracy in criticizing oppositions. Why don't we follow the truth and logic when expressing ourselves and criticizing others?

Not long ago, I saw a news about a Chinese Consul, Zhen-Dong Wei, who was called back to China because he borrowed $750,000 from a number of people in the Chinese community but refused to pay the money back to them. The Chinese Embassy announced that they were not aware of any deeds of Consul Wei like this, and it was purely his individual behavior and has nothing to do with the Chinese government. Therefore, the Embassy would not take any responsibility of this incidence for paying back the money Consul Wei owed.

This is reasonable and logical. It is Zhen-Dong Wei who borrowed the money but did not return it. The lenders can only ask for the money from Wei, not other people.

When Chinese government cracked down on Falun Gong, it was repeatedly emphasized that Falun Gong caused 1404 cases of death. Does Chinese government have solid proof that those people died because they practiced Falun Gong? Unlike the Chinese Communist Party members, Falun Gong practitioners do not fill out any application forms, do not pay any membership fees, and do not belong to any organization, committee or association. In order to become a Chinese Communist Party member, there is a procedure for people to follow. Individuals must apply for it first. Then if the Party thinks you are eligible, they will then give you an application form. You have to fill out the application form. Two people from the party have to serve as your references. Your application has to be passed in the Party Committee meeting. Supervisors have to grand their admission. You have to take an oath. After you joined, you have to participate in the organization's activities. You have to pay membership fee, so on and so forth. However, for Falun Gong, there is no such an application, registry and monitoring procedure. Whoever believes in Falun Gong practices it by following its philosophies and principles narrated in the book "Zhuan Falun". The teacher will take care of them as long as they are genuine practitioners deep down in their hearts and their behaviors. Anybody who doesn't believe in Falun Gong principles can leave at any time. Nobody is in charge or takes control of anybody. Then, how could Chinese government be sure that those people involved in the 1404 cases of death were Falun Gong practitioners?

The principles of Falun Gong clearly state that killing animals and people or committing suicide are not allowed, neither is "Bigu" [fasting]. The principles also specify the philosophy of attaining things naturally without any pursue, and indicate that people with mental disabilities are not allowed to practice Falun Gong, otherwise they are not recognized as Falun Gong practitioners. Now, how can the Chinese government label whoever they pick up as Falun Gong practitioners and take suicides, murderers, lunatics...for Falun Gong practitioners? They accused Falun Gong for all these crimes or crazy deeds without allowing Falun Gong practitioners to have any opportunities to explain themselves. To any people who are able to think independently, don't you think their way of dealing with Falun Gong is totally different from their way of handling the incidence of Consul Wei? In Consul Wei's case, they claimed that it was individual person's responsibility, and it should not be related to the Chinese Embassy or Chinese government. Then, in Falun Gong's case, don't the 1404 cases of death belong to individual cases, too, and should not be related to Falun Gong either? They used different standards to judge themselves from others. Therefore, the truthfulness of the Chinese government in terms of Falun Gong issue is highly questionable.

2. The 1004 death cases - An evidence of a crime or miracle?

In the past 10 months, the Chinese government has been hyping up the theory that Falun Gong was responsible for 1404 deaths. Chinese government is unable to come up with an iota of evidence that would involve Falun Gong practitioners in money laundering or fraud, in smuggling or drug trafficking. Nor can the government find anything related to the rampant "porno" flooding China nowadays. Therefore, the so-called "1404 cases of death" that was painstakingly put together is the only "evidence" they can cling to, which has, of course, been put to such an extensive use against Falun Gong.

The government initially claimed that 743 people had died from practicing Falun Gong. The statistics was quickly doubled and has remained at that since then. It stands to reason that the Chinese government believes this official number is big enough to discredit Falun Gong. The author has studied science and come to grips with various forms of statistics for a couple of decades. It is my joy to analyze data using various statistics and make comparisons between numbers. Here is my analysis of the 1404 cases.

Up to date, Falun Gong has been available to the public for about seven years and, by official allegation, has led to 1404 deaths. In other words, about 200 people are "victimized" each year in an average.

Nevertheless, what on earth is the number of people who practice Falun Gong? The official statistics by Chinese government has seen several drops, eventually to 2.1 millions. Let's assume this number is authentic. Then, it follows that the annual mortality rate does not exceed one per ten thousand. However, the average mortality rate for human beings is 13 per thousand, or 130 per ten thousand. In addition, you have to factor in that the practitioners were mostly elderly when Falun Gong first came to public; most of them had suffered chronicle and severe diseases and complications. In fact, they were all attracted by the benefit of Falun Gong in terms of its ability to cure diseases and keep people fit - wasn't this a common saying among average Chinese that "Go to Falun Gong if you are not helped by hospitals"? Based on common sense, it should not be surprised for this elderly-dominated group to have reported high-than-average mortality rate.

Let's make a similar analysis with a different benchmark - mortality rate of Japan, a well-recognized "longevity" country in the world. In 1995, its rate is 7.6 per thousand, or 76 per ten thousand. The rate is 76 times higher than that for Falun Gong.

Does this comparison speak volumes? Should the 1404 statistics be implicating evidence of Falun Gong, or testament to the medical miracle it has made?

On the other hand, according to the Eastern Asia Economics and Trade, October 8, 1999, it has been reported that "The statistics of the World Health Organization shows that 'Among the deaths from diseases around the world, approximately one third stem from improper medicine-taking; and there are between 11% to 26% of medicine users in our country taking it improperly. At present, as many as 2.5 millions people in our country are hospitalized annually because of pernicious reactions from medicines; around 192 thousands die from such reactions, not including the up to 10,000 deformed infants due to the reactions."

Based on China's population of 1.26 billion and its mortality rate of 192 thousand per year, the ratio for people suffering from such reactions should be 1.5 per ten thousand. We should note that the assumption here is that every Chinese takes medicine. The assumption in the Falun Gong case, however, is only that 2 million people are practicing - the denominator is several orders smaller. Still, isn't this ratio higher than the official estimate of Falun Gong mortality rate?

Besides, according to a recent report by a local Chinese newspaper, a huge smoking population is developing in China mainland. In this regard, China Smoking and Health Association has conceded that the population is as large as 320 million, constituting one quarter of the world smoking population. There are about 750 thousand Chinese mainlanders dying from diseases related to smoking every year, or over 2000 people every day.

Now that smoking has been causing at least 2000 deaths everyday, even larger than the 1404 deaths allegedly attributed to Falun Gong in seven years, plus the fact that smoking pollutes the environment, then why does the government, who claims to be so concerned with its citizens' livelihood issue, viciously crack down on Falun Gong only but not on other more problematic aspects like smoking? This is indeed very confusing, and there seems to be a skeleton in the closet of the Chinese government on Falun Gong issue.

The above analysis demonstrates that the theory about the relation between Falun Gong and the death cases is groundless. It also casts serious doubt on the government's claim that it decided to ban Falun Gong out of its responsibility for its citizens. Labeling Falun Gong as a "cult" is just an excuse for Chinese government to crack down on Falun Gong easily without a strong public opposition.

In reality, Falun Gong has brought benefits to millions of practitioners, mentally and physically. It has exhibited supernormal power in curing diseases, which is elaborated in the next section.

3. Can Falun Gong cure diseases?

Every Falun Gong practitioner knows that Falun Gong does not promote healing illnesses, nor does it heal illnesses. However, if you are a genuine practitioner, you cannot practice cultivation with an ill body. So as long as you wish to practice this cultivation way and you do not come for curing illnesses or with any other desires, your body will be purified and all diseases will be eradicated accordingly because of the purification of your body. Your body will reach the state free of any illness so that you are ready to cultivate. "Birth, age, illnesses and death" are the normal states for ordinary people, so it is natural for an ordinary person to have illnesses. On the contrary, if an ordinary person can be free from any illness, it would be supernormal. Since it is a supernormal state, naturally there will be supernormal principles governing it. Otherwise, everyone can claim to be a Falun Gong practitioner, and Falun Gong has to guarantee that everyone be free from any illness and will not die? How can there be such a thing? Only when practitioners truly understand the principles of Falun Gong during the course of their cultivation, give up their attachments of pursuits, and pay attention to their cultivation of Xinxing, will their cultivation energy increase. Only that way, their levels can be upgraded as they improve their Xinxing, and their bodies be purified and reach a state free of illness.

Among Falun Gong practitioners, many were ill before they started their practice. Some people even came with the desire to cure illnesses. During their cultivation, they gained an understanding of the great law and upgraded their Xinxing, so their health conditions naturally improved. Yet, for those people who came only to cure their illnesses, it is possible that without giving up their attachments, their diseases will not be cured, and they cannot be called Falun Gong practitioners either. Therefore, Master Li explicitly requires that very sick patients do not come to the classes. It is not that the Buddha Law does not have such a power. It is because they cannot abolish their desire to cure illnesses, which deviates from the principles of Falun Gong.

Nobody can deny the magical effects of Falun Gong in curing diseases. Please take a look at the following statistics:

Assistant professor Dan Ling from the Basic Medical College of the China Xie-He Medical University, researcher Li Cai-Xi from Xi-Yuan Hospital of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Institute, and others, i.e., a total of 11 specialists from 7 different medical institutions, conducted a survey on 12,731 Falun Gong practitioners, among whom 11,892 had some kinds of diseases. According to its results, after practicing Falun Gong, 11,785 people had their diseases improved to a certain extent or significantly, and some of them were even completely cured. The total effective rate of Falun Gong for treating diseases is 99.1%, and a total of 6,962 people (58.5%) completely recovered their health. In one year, they saved the country more than 4,170,000 Yuan RMB in healthcare, an average of 3,275 Yuan RMB per person per year.

In early October, 1998, chief doctors from the General Hospital of People's Police of China, the Stomatological Hospital of Beijing Medical University, and the Hospital of Beijing Nuclear Industry conducted a survey on Falun Gong practitioners. They sent out 700 questionnaires, and received 584 replies. The results after classification, counting and analysis indicate that health improvement for these practitioners are very significant. Among the 1,449 different kinds of diseases being investigated, the rate for a complete recovery is 63.9%, and the rate for apparent improvement is 32.6%. These two rates amount to a overall improvement rate of 96.5%. Among the types of illnesses being investigated, the respiratory system related diseases have the highest rate of cure (75.7%). The rate of cure for heart blood vessel related diseases is 58%. Many incurable diseases, even the ones received "death sentence" from the hospital, have been cured miraculously.

There are many more statistics like this. Anyone interested can easily find first-hand, even more convincing proofs from Falun Gong practitioners near you.

4. Collecting money?

Some people said Master Li Hongzhi collected a lot of money through lecturing classes and selling books. Upon hearing this, the Master laughed and said that since there were over 100 million practitioners, if every one gives him 1 Yuan RMB, which is almost nothing to a person, he would a multi-millionaire ---- why bother going through so much trouble?

It is nothing unfeasible for the practitioners to give some money to their master and make him a millionaire or even a billionaire. But if it really happens that way, then would the Master still be our master? Would Falun Dafa still be Falun Dafa?

Our Master came to this world and taught us the principles of the universe. We have understood that originally we belonged to those holy, pure, and incomparably splendid worlds. We have became not as good during the inconceivably long period of time and dropped down slowly, until finally to this world of human beings. Our purpose here is not to be a human, but to improve ourselves as soon as possible, become better and better, until finally get back to our original places. Therefore, as practitioners we want to give up the concepts of human beings, such as pursuing fame and personal interests, so that we can go back to our true self or our homes. So, the mind of collecting money does not belong to Falun Dafa. If our Master collects money, then would the disciples still follow him?

The Master said he only wanted the hearts for cultivation from his disciples, not anything else. These hearts he own are priceless and could not be exchanged by money.

As you know, the Chinese government is controlling an army of 2 million people and a police force of 1 million people (even the student police were called upon). It has a complete political system built over decades. It also controls all the media and has millions of dollars for propaganda. With all of the above, it launched a most fierce ever campaign to accuse, curse and oppress Falun Gong. Yet it still can not "defeat" (the word from the People's Daily, a newspaper of the Chinese Central Government) Falun Gong and still needs to "remind" all the party members that this is a "hard and long-lasting war".

Now I think readers can see some of the great compassion of our Master and the enlightened hearts of our practitioners. In China, millions of Dafa practitioners are facing one or a combination of the following: arrest, forced labor, torture, dismiss from job and losing college degrees, losing houses and apartments, broken family, persuasion of friends and relatives, tears of old parents, etc. But they still want to safeguard Falun Dafa and still want to say, "I will continue to practice Falun Dafa." They came out to practice, to petition, and to tell the truth to the government and people all over the world. "The news by Chinese government are all fake", "People will pay for the wrong doings they conduct, and don't make disasters for the nation and our future generations." "Please think about your future," because Master Li has taught us to cultivate "Truthfulness, compassion, forbearance", to be good to others. Telling a person Dafa (the truth) is better than giving him anything else.

Please take a look at the ending part of a letter written to President Jiang Zemin by a female farmer in Si-Chuan province on Feb 3, 2000. "President Jiang, you are the leader of the country, and I would really appreciate your taking a little bit time out of your busy works and reading this letter. We would rather give up our farmland (Author's note: The farmland of the practitioners in China will be forcefully confiscated if they keep practicing Falun Gong), our job and our families just to let you know the truth. Writing you this letter puts my life at risk, but for our wrongly accused master, our suffering fellow practitioners and their families, I would rather die. If my death can exchange for the clean reputation of our Master and the great law (and remove the label "evil cult"), and the release of imprisoned practitioners, I would rather die ten thousand times!"

I sincerely hope the above reflections of mine can arouse the attention of the kind-hearted people all over the world to have a rational look and thought about Falun Gong (Falun Dafa). Whether you would like to pick up Falun Gong practice as part of your life is your choice, but in my opinion, it is very important, as the world develops up to this stage, to at least explore a bit more about what Falun Gong is, what Master Li Hongzhi teaches, and what the status quo of Falun Gong in the world platform.

(03/17/00)

(Translated Mar. 30, 2000)