Dear Mat, Thanks for the opportunity to reply.

Falun Gong, Homosexuality and Racism

To get straight to the point, it is true that Falun Gong practitioners do not practice homosexuality. But I hope everyone can read this letter with and open heart - there are several points that you should be clear on including the fact that Falun Gong practitioners are not against anyone.

Violence and hatred of any kind are the biggest taboos in Falun Dafa cultivation practice. There are two sentences in Zhuan Falun, the main teaching of Falun Gong, about homosexuality, but there are entire sections of the book devoted to eliminating jealousy, competitiveness, anger, fear, lust, etc. Another thing cultivators are taught to practice is to avoid is hurting others for personal gain. There is an entire chapter devoted to the issue of killing - we are forbidden to kill or harm others. The purpose of cultivation is to look inside oneself and improve your heart - not to judge others and never to hurt others on purpose.

Please remember that Falun Gong is an ancient and profound spiritual discipline to allow people to enlighten to spiritual wisdom in order to reach consummation or what western religions call heaven. It is a teaching that explains the principles of life and the universe that is echoed in many ancient and orthodox religions in the past. It is also a teaching that helps to empower people to make their own choices.

From a historical perspective, consider other ancient cultivation ways - all the cultivators were monks or nuns, having no sex at all, and other cultivation paths required people to live alone in caves all alone. In our cultivation way, not only is gay sex is considered improper, so is sex before marriage! Even within a marriage we are encouraged to eliminate the emotion of lust - which is not easy. So you can see this is not about hate at all, but about the rules cultivators follow - rules which we do not impose on others.

If you feel Falun Gong is not your thing, that's OK! It works in my life but may not work in yours - that's what diversity is all about. Someone once said, "I disagree with what you said, but I defend to death your right to say it!" Indeed diversity is a two way street where we all won't see exactly eye to eye all the time. But we should be truly kind to one another with sincerity, or we are not treating others, as we would have them treat us.

To further put the issue into further perspective, what this is really about is choice which is taught as a principle in Falun Gong and also respected. If you feel you would like to investigate Falun Dafa for a possible path to cultivation then this may become an issue if you are currently in a gay relationship. You might want to require abstinence of yourself - but other practitioners are not permitted to tell you what to do and the choice is yours! Anyone who is interested in practicing may join us, gay, straight or otherwise, and everyone is always welcome and is given a positive environment to cultivate in. The rest is really up to you as each cultivator has his or her own path and understandings regarding the meanings of their own life.

If you are not interested in practicing Falun Dafa this will never be an issue for you because no Falun Gong practitioner is permitted to judge you, as judging other human beings is not permitted in Falun Gong because it goes against the principle of compassion and is most times based on selfishness, insecurity and ignorance. –Falun Gong practitioners are taught that we should only treat others with kindness, compassion, and friendliness. And speaking from my own experience, gay people have always been a part of my life. I respect their choices, as that is how I feel friends should treat one another.

Falun Gong does not teach racism

Regarding propaganda it has been a common tactic of the PRC propaganda machine to take things out of context to discredit us (or just plain lie) in order to distract people from their crimes against humanity that they are guilty of. When the crackdown started Amnesty International reported on the “Massive propaganda campaign” being waged against Falun Gong stating that the Chinese regimes claims are “unjust” “questionable”, “unproven.” The Chinese regime started by stating that, “Falun Gong was an American funded political force with aims to bring down the Chinese government.” When the public didn’t buy that they changed their tactic to state that, Falun Gong was an “evil cult.” They then created stories out of context to paint the teaching and practitioners as “anti society.” For example, the mixed race material is a classic example of taking things out of context and making it appear damming. I am the product of a mixed race marriage and am in a mixed race marriage - my husband is from African (Ghana). If you had a chance to read the whole lecture, you would see it is talking about something a lot more complex, in my opinion. The loss of our traditional cultures, and what that means in other dimensions for human beings. I can attest, in my own experience, to how my own culture is being eroded and our traditions lost, and I can see it in my son's life. He is losing the language and culture of ALL his forefathers/mothers and speaks only English! (We as parents are still trying our best though) I feel that is not a good thing, but it is an inevitable part of modern life.

There are Falun Gong practitioners of every race in 60 countries around the world: they are in Africa, Latin America, Asia, European - everyone is welcome. Racial discrimination is also not permitted in our practice, and mixed marriages are as common among us as among any other group of individuals. Just go to www.falundafa.org, and you can see the web pages from 30 different countries.

Mass Communist waged propaganda

Again, regarding the propaganda about Falun Gong it is very common that the Chinese media in the US receives much of it's material directly from Chinese government owned news agencies - for free. When the crackdown began the Chinese people knew Falun Gong was good so the Chinese communist party waged a multi million dollar hate campaign against Falun Gong to turn public opinion against it. To date an estimated 500,000 attack articles have been pumped into Chinese and western society 24hour a day vilifying Falun Gong as an "evil cult" and "against China" and it hasn't stopped for the last six years.

There has been several legal cases in the US and Canada involving the propaganda pumped into North America via Chinese media. In one case a respected news agency that broadcasted lies and defamation from China’s state owned media against Falun Gong was ordered to apologize on air for airing the defamation. In 2004 The United States House of Representatives unanimously passed Concurrent Resolution 304 condemning the persecution of Falun Gong in China and denouncing P.R.C. agents for harassment, violence, and “spreading of falsehood” in the U.S. And in February the vice-consul general of China stationed in Canada was found guilty of libel in civil court for slandering a Falun Gong practitioner. The court even ordered the Bank of China to freeze his assets.

Also, in an annual report Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch stated, “ Falun Gong members are peaceful, law-abiding citizens, and there is no excuse for the human rights violations they have endured. The charge that Falun Gong threatens the stability of China does not hold up. Its claim that belief in Falun Gong is a public health menace is equally bogus. The danger to health comes from the treatment its practitioners receive at the hands of the police and prison officials."

Falun Gong is not political. All we hope for is an end to the murder and torture of our loved ones and friends by the ruthless Chinese communist regime. However, in the Chinese community the damage has already been done by the propaganda and we hope that the Chinese community will awaken to see how they have been manipulated to hate good people.

This issue is very complex, and very serious. However, There are also a large number of Chinese people who support us and recognize the persecution is wrong.

I am glad to have the opportunity to try to clarify these issues. Indeed, we may not all share the same world view, but we should respect each others rights, including the right to freedom of belief. Falun Dafa has also taught my that every person is truly precious and worth of respect. I hope we can use these values as the common ground upon which we communicate.

Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Sincerely,

Zoe, Akah- Hamilton

Posted by: Joel Chipkar at February 5, 2006 01:05 PM

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