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Shen Yun and the Falun Gong Cult Jason Unruhe / 2017 02 26 You ve probably seen a pos ter or oth er advertisement for a performance group called Shen Yun. It s performing arts and entertainment company formed in New Yo r k C i t y. T h e i r performances are classical Chinese arts: music and dance. Their claim is that they celebrate traditional Chinese arts going back 5000 years. The Shen Yun we bs it e t ra ns la te s t he phrase Shen Yun as the beauty o f divine b eings dancing . The pe rf or ma nc es ca n b e genuinely breathtaking. It features some of the most amaz ing m usic ians and dancers that can be seen plying their craft today.
360 Ghazal Tavanaei
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Zeeshan Ashraf
Ho we ve r, th er e is another side to the group. It was founded in 2006 by the Falun Gong cult that was ban ned in Chi na man y years ago. Shen Yun is a front group of Falun Gong which raises money to fund the organis ation and its subversive activities in Ch in a. Sh en Yun s headquarters can be found in Cu dd eb ac kv il le , in Orange County, New York.
But who is Falun Gong? Falun Gong is a religious cult that openly opposes the secular state
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000 /02/27/for-whom-the-gong-tolls/bab9382d-0b90-44da-b4aecef517460652/?utm_term=.740511f81c79
of China. In their view, the secu lari sati on th at to ok place under socialism is an affront to God. They carry many traditional Chinese beliefs such as Dharma Wh ee l Pr ac ti ce or Law Wheel Practice . It s a spiritual practice that combines meditation and qigong exercises with a moral philosophy centred on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. It draws heavily on Taoist traditions. They believe that en li gh te nm en t t hr ou gh meditation and eliminating attachments. The practice began in the 1990s by a man named Li Hongzhi. Li Hongzhi, the chief ringleader of Falun Gong , claims that the mankind has been destroye d 81 times and that he has delayed the explosion of the earth by 30 years. He claims that the mankind is corrupted, and the earth is the biggest dump ing g roun d of th e uni ver se an d tha t by practising Falun Gong , the true law above all religions, one would never bec ome s ick o r get in danger. He even claims th at th e Ho lo ca us t of Jewish people by Hitler was a result of the changes in celestial phenomena. According to incomplete
statistics, over 1,000 cult practitioners in China died because they followed Li s teachings and refused to seek medical treatment for their illnesses. Several hu nd re d p ra ct it io ne rs commit ted self-m utilat ion or s uicide. O ver 3 0 innocent people were killed by me nt al ly de ra ng ed practitioners of Falun Gong . Falun Gong claims to advocate truthfulness, benevolence and tolerance , but in fact, the cult tolerates no opposing views whatsoever. It has, time and again, organised prac titi oner s to besi ege ordinary Chinese citizens, med ia and gov ern men t institutions who questioned its fallacies. Wh en Li Ho ng zh i founded Falun Gong, he claimed himself to be a Qigong master so that he co ul d ma ke mo ne y by curing disease for others with his alleged energy Qigong, which in turn resulted in some patients died for not having been treated in time. Therefore Li Hongzhi had to resort to other trickeries. As a result of these very disturbing beliefs that group was outlawed in China. By 1999, government estimates
placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million. Things came to a head in April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong followers protested the government in Beijing to demand legal recognition and freed om from sta te int erf ere nce i n spi rit ual heal ing pr acti ces. As a result of their actions: On 20 July 1999, the Communist Party leadership began a nationwide campaign intended to eradicate the cult. I t block ed Inte rnet access to web sites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a heretical organisation that threatened social stability. Shen Yun should be op po se d i n t he sa me manner that Sciento logy should be opposed. It s a blatant cult that seeks to undermine society for their own pow er. Ima gin e if Scientologists went around the world decrying the US go ve rn me nt o f be in g terr ible tyra nts beca use they won t recognise L. Ron Hubbard as a god and handing ov er all of the society to their church. That is the danger Falun Gong poses. Shen Yun is a fundraising group for cult activities.