FalunGong is an ancient Chinese spiritual discipline in the Buddhist tradition. Pronounced “Fah-loon Gong,” it consists of moral teachings, a meditation, and four gentle exercises that are a truly unique and highly effective way to improve your health and energy levels.
At the core of Falun Gong are the values of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance (or in Chinese, Zhen 真 Shan 善 Ren 忍). Falun Dafa teaches that these are the most fundamental qualities of the universe, and takes them to be a guide for daily life and practice.
In the words of Falun Gong’s founder, Mr. Li Hongzhi, “assimilation to the highest qualities of the universe — Zhen 真 Shan 善 Ren 忍 — is the foundation of practice. Practice is guided by these supreme qualities, and based on the very laws which underlie the development of the cosmos.”
By 1999, Falun Gong had grown to become the largest and fastest growing practice of the sort in Chinese if not world history. In just seven years since its 1992 introduction to the public, an estimated 100 million people were practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong,
is an advanced self-cultivation practice
that improves mental and physical wellness
through physical exercises and the development of one's character.
In China, cultivation practices have a history of thousands of years
and form the spiritual foundation of Chinese civilization.
In 1992, Falun Dafa was introduced to the public
by Master Li Hongzhi.
The practice quickly spread because of its profound principles
and proven health benefits.
By 1999, with over 100 million practitioners,
Falun Dafa had grown to become the largest practice of its kind
in China and around the world.
Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on energy channels
and believes that the health of the body
is related to the health of the mind.
Falun Dafa cultivates mind and body simultaneously,
improving the body's natural immunity.
I had a very, very bad immune system.
I was sick all the time.
And I came to the practice for spiritual reasons,
but I immediately stopped getting sick.
I kept thinking, why am I not getting sick?
What's wrong?
As a matter of fact, I go to parties now and they used to say,
give the sick babies to Jeannie, she never gets sick.
I feel an energy in my body that's very subtle and hard to describe,
but it feels very good.
I could have very little sleep and I'll feel awakened,
but not like a coffee energetic,
like a very calm and collected energy.
And that one hour can feel like a day.
And then I'm refreshed and ready to go.
Before I practiced Falun Gong,
when I got scolded by my boss or supervisor,
I was very annoyed.
And immediately I would complain about others,
or felt it wasn't fair.
But after I started practicing,
the biggest lesson I learned was looking inside
and always find something to improve within myself.
If I didn't like something that another person did,
I would think about, oh, I don't like that.
I don't like that that person does that.
And I realized that it was having a direct effect on my health
by having that bad thought about that person.
And as soon as I realized that,
I changed my thinking so that I wouldn't think about
what things I didn't like or liked about other people
and more just how I should be responsible to being a good person
and controlling my thinking and quieting my thinking.
And then the headaches went away.
The first time I heard about Falun Dafa was actually when I was 12 years old.
At the time, I was going through a rebellious stage.
I barely talked to my parents.
I'd come home, slam the door.
Meditation taught me to look within.
I started talking to my parents more.
I started respecting them more.
So my mother was very happy because it's like she got her son back.
In 1983, I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy,
which is incurable in Western and Eastern medicine.
In February 1998, a friend from China wrote me a letter.
She told me that Falun Dafa is a true practice
that can improve people's morals as well as physical health.
So I began to practice Falun Gong.
In three months, I totally recovered.
At the core of Falun Dafa are the values of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
Falun Dafa teaches that these are the supreme qualities of the universe
and takes them to be a guide for daily life and practice.
Well, when I was little, I would stare like at night,
just sit on my bed and look at the stars and think,
like, why were you here in the first place?
Why do you even exist?
And most of all, where do you come from?
First time I read John Falun, the book on Falun Dafa,
I felt a lot of those questions were just immediately answered.
I think the best benefit is the peace of mind.
I have incredibly peace of mind.
My family certainly has benefited.
My husband said to me within a month, I was much easier to live with.
Applying truthfulness, compassion and tolerance to my daily life
is the greatest challenge of my life, actually.
You would think it's so simple, but, you know, therein lies the challenge.
But everybody else around you feels it, you know, because you become lighter,
you become, you smile a lot more and you become much more genuine.
It was like I was always searching for something.
And it's so easy to think that what we're searching for is outside,
whether it's money or clothes or beauty or whatever.
And Falun Dafa just provided me with an inner peace that I just feel like
whatever happens around me, I'm fine.
Like I have these values and principles that I can follow.
It's just like a sense of not security,
but inner security and a sense of calm and peace, which I didn't have before.
