OPINION|
by John Moran, Windham, ME
Steve Pokin’s article “Was there more than met the eye in Shen Yun dance performance at MSU arena?” presented a misleading depiction of Shen Yun and the Falun Gong (a/k/a Falun Dafa) spiritual practice.
Falun Dafa is a peaceful spiritual practice, based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, and rooted in the Buddhist tradition. The practice focuses on self-improvement through the study of spiritual teachings, elimination of unhealthy attachments, and improvement of one’s character. The practice also includes gentle exercises and meditation. Many practitioners report improved health and well-being, increased energy, mental clarity, and stress relief as a result of the practice.
Falun Dafa members have been subjected to more than two decades of unjust, brutal persecution in China (where the practice began), including arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and in many cases death.(1) A fundamental aspect of the persecution has been a vicious propaganda campaign by the Chinese Communist Party, designed to demean, dehumanize, and incite hatred against Falun Dafa practitioners. (1) So it is especially important that Western journalists report on Falun Dafa fairly and inaccurately.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pokin’s article repeated some common misconceptions about Falun Dafa, including that the practice condemns interracial marriage. That is untrue, as interracial marriages in fact are very common among Dafa practitioners. The article also suggested that Falun Dafa is intolerant of LGBT people. While it is true that Dafa teaches conservative sexual ethics (like most of the world’s religions), it does not advocate any form of maltreatment or discrimination against LGBT people, and does not seek to force its beliefs on anyone.
Mr. Pokin also criticized Falun Dafa’s association with The Epoch Times newspaper, which he describes as right-wing. It’s important to understand, however, that The Epoch Times does not speak for Falun Dafa generally, and does not claim to. It’s true that some individual Falun Dafa practitioners own and operate the newspaper, but Dafa practitioners have diverse political views. Right-wing politics are not part of Dafa teachings, which state to the contrary that Dafa should have nothing to do with politics. (2)
I encourage any readers to see a Shen Yun performance, if they have the chance, and to learn more about Falun Dafa at https://falundafa.org/ or https://faluninfo.net/. You may find that, indeed, there is more than meets the eye.
(1) See, e.g., US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom: China, which notes that the millions of Falun Gong practitioners in China face propaganda campaigns, harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention, severe discrimination and other “gross violations of human rights”); Amnesty Annual Report on the State of the World’s Human Rights, at p. 128 (“Falun Gong practitioners continued to be subjected to persecution, arbitrary detention, unfair trials and torture and other ill treatment.”); Judgment of the Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China, at p. 150 (“acts of torture, generally, reveal an overall consistent attitude and approach of the Chinese state towards practitioners of Falun Gong, which is systematic in nature and designed to punish, ostracise, humiliate, dehumanise, demean and demonise practitioners of Falun Gong into renouncing and abandoning their practice of it.”).
(2) See, e.g., “Cultivation Practice is Not Political,” (from Essentials for Further Advancement), (“…We should not get involved in politics… a cultivator will not be interested in politics or political power of any sort; failing this, he absolutely isn’t my disciple.”); Speech (“… our Dafa as a whole doesn't get involved in politics, and we can't do anything political in the name of Dafa … If an individual practitioner wants to support someone, that's his personal business and it doesn't represent Dafa … As individual practitioners you can support whoever you'd like. That's how it works.”).