Editor's note: On August 4, 2007, Li Hongzhi spent about 600,000 to 700,000 US dollars "inviting" Australian Falun Gong practitioners to US to have a "necessary" meeting- Fa Teaching to Australian Falun Gong Practitioners. In the Fa Teaching, Li Hongzhi himself exposed various problems with overseas Falun Gong. It can be concluded from the Fa Teaching that overseas Falun Gong is in disastrous state!
We can say that "the Fa Teaching to Australian Falun Gong Practitioners" is an important turning point, indicating Li Hongzhi's "theocratic status" in the followers' heart is tobogganing, and the Falun Gong is hastily falling into a decline.
Through this meeting, we feel that Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong now is powerless and helpless, their ability is not equal to their ambition. And we also feel that the Falun Gong's scrabbling and yammering just before its failure.
If others say that within the Falun Gong, they are contending for power and profit causing so much contradiction, its followers would deem it as a rumor. If the followers complain the disorder and chaos within the Falun Gong, then it may offer an explanation that it's only because of "interruptions by the evils" and "insufficiency of cultivation". In this way, it is at most an unimportant and partial problem. But Li Hongzhi expended a lot of money to hold a meeting, pointing out the problems by himself, which can explain sufficiently how serious the situation is.
On August 4, 2007, Li Hongzhi expended "600 to 700 thousand" US dollars traveling expenses without any hesitation to invite the Australian backbone followers to US, and straightforwardly pointed out several important issues, rebuking and instructing his followers. This is Li Hongzhi's "The Fa Teaching to Australian Falun Gong Practitioners".
During the "Fa Teaching", Li Hongzhi came straight to the point, "the problem to be solved concerns the mutual distrust among the followers, it is relatively complicated. At the same time, it is easy to be influenced by this and that factors. So we invite you here to hold the meeting. I think the meeting is needed to be held."
"Why is the meeting needed to be held?" Using Li Hongzhi's words to explain, the answer should be "to solve the problems existing in Falun Dafa Association, among the followers, and in Australia as well. And still another, the newly-emerged one, which is the issue of boycotting performance in New Tang Dynasty Gala". Such problems concerning the organization, the followers, boycotting performance and Falun Gong faction in Australia, that's really "a hard nut to crack" for Li Hongzhi. These problems are only a small part mentioned by Li Hongzhi during the meeting, there are still many in his mind, inconveniently to be mentioned yet.
As for the problems happened in the Dafa Association, Li Hongzhi said, "we all know about the Dafa Association, and I've already told them since July 20, 1999, to let the followers cultivate and verify the 'Fa' themselves on their own way. Unless there is a group activity or a project needed to be done collectively, they should not guide them and demand them to do things together".
"Some followers said they had to learn form the Dafa Association, and then they can know how to do. That's impossible. You should cultivate the 'Fa' by yourself. If you successfully cultivate yourself, you will be the hierarch, and you will guide others. How can you lead others to do that if you don't know it? Perhaps, you say you can learn from others, but that sounds unreasonable." "From the situation in the Association, many of you believe it is the leader of your district." "Strictly speaking, both the Dafa Association and the tutorial spots in each area are merely coordinators."
It's not difficult to find out Li Hongzhi is rather dissatisfied with the Dafa Association. Since 1999, he has been demanding the Association to "wholly let things go". He claims that the followers should be encouraged to walk on their own way and learn the "Fa" by themselves instead of "doing things consistently". He always criticizes some followers "who have to subject themselves to discipline and if not, then will feel uncomfortable".
In fact, it doesn't really criticize the followers, it evidently points at the followers but abuses the others. Perhaps those followers don't know the truth clearly, well, let the Master put it into the open, "if you practice successfully, then you'll be the hierarch!" The principal of the Dafa Association is deemed by Li Hongzhi as "a principal in the certain area", and it is not a "leader", and strictly speaking, only a "coordinator".
In Li Hongzhi former "lections", we could hardly find out Li had been so flustered and exasperated at a certain organization, nor encouraged his followers to be the "hierarch", so what has made Li Hongzhi so confused and worried and even be as mad as a wet hen? The answer is simple, his authority has been stricken, his supreme power has been threatened. The inner "factions" have been his worry.
He thought, within the organization, there may be some "hills" (refers to those disobeying his order to some extent), rather than some "mountains" (refers to those setting up factions against him). It is so ridiculous that Li Hongzhi unexpectedly took the measure of encouraging the "hills" to suppress the "mountains", indicating that he is at his wits' end, and has exhausted all tricks. At the same time, it manifests that the contradiction between Li Hongzhi and Falun Dafa Association has turned to be chronic disease of the Falun Gong, even to the extent of being beyond cure.
As for "the problems among the followers", it should not be the "Master's" concern. There is contradiction among the members in a certain faction, isn't there? Even though, it isn't in a faction, the contradiction is also quite common among ordinary people... but Li Hongzhi said "I think except the troubles caused by the Dafa Association, the most difficult trouble is that the followers don't cooperate with each other quite well", and "especially in Australia that the followers have formed a habit over a long period of time not to trust each other." Rome is not build in one day, the distrust "to be formed over a long period of time" must have some historical reasons. And there is "actual" action at present. So without these factors, Li Hongzhi would not take it as the "the most difficult trouble" except those caused by the Dafa Association.
The "actual" actions include what Li Hongzhi has mentioned in his "preaching", "when cooperation is needed or ther is some thing or project, the followers will struggle for it", "they look down upon each other and rake up each other's past, but all trifles." To be frigging, the followers don't trust each other and even suspect the other as a spy. And even worse, they cut the ground and refuse to cooperate in doing thing pretexting that "I come here to cultivate myself and not for work."
In Li Hongzhi's preaching to the Australian followers, there are two vivid examples showing how serious the problem among the followers is. One is that a follower put a question, "my sister was once the principal of the Epoch Times, Melbourne, and later the editor in chief of the Epoch times, New York. But she was kicked out last year, therefore many followers believed she was a spy. Some followers doubted it and could not understand the Dafa Association behavior, but these followers were banished from the preaching." The other example is that a follower complained, "a former Dafa Association members in Australia once took me as a spy, and when I came the US the second time, they deliberately abandoned me during the airport transferring."
These two examples show that "spy" has been a convenient excuse for suspecting, discriminating against and discooperating with each other. What does the spy really mean? Is not the hidden traitor sent by one Falun Gong department to another, or the "underground revolutionary" sent by the Communist Party of China?
Li Hongzhi avoided this problem, just said vaguely, "I tell you, this is no real spy here," "you don't try to find out the reason from yourselves, instead you mutually arrest the so-called spies." "I tell you definitely that I will release everybody from sufferings, even the spy." What Li`s answers meant that he rebuked the followers for not cultivating intensively, but concealed and avoid the inner contradiction. Or, Li was disinclined to or dared not envisage the issue. It is impossible to solve these severe problems within the Falun Gong by Li's stereotyped expressions as "cultivating deligently", "letting off righteous thoughts" and "dispelling vicious supernatural". And even Li Hongzhi himself couldn't believe it.
"The issue of boycotting performance in New Tang Dynasty GALA" and "the things in Australia" said by Li Hongzhi, are not only the problem concerning the human relations within Falun Gong, but also reflection of the money problem within the organization. During Li Hongzhi's preaching in Australia, Falun Gong followers came straight to the point asking the Master the financial issue even without prologs or "hellos".
"We (Australia) has totally reorganize the former New Tang Dynasty Company according to your Master's requirement, we wish to continue to manage it, because our fellow-followers seldom deal in marketing management, we suggest that we integrate several media company to do that together, isn't possible?"
From the questions put up by the Australian followers, the financial issue has been the unavoidable and lethal contradiction within Falun Gong, and the financial contradiction will unavoidably lead to contradiction among the departments and followers, and even to contradicting with Li Hongzhi. In Falun Gong, "there is no aeonian friends but aeonian interest". The veil of "truth, compassion and forbearance" will be relentlessly torn by the financial contradiction, and the temptation of the visional "Kingdom of Heaven" will not prohibit Falun Gong followers from seizing the "the cooked food in the real world".
Trouble breaks out at the home of Falun Gong so as to make it have trouble inside and outside. Li Hongzhi has nothing to do but preach in Australia. It's, for the Falun Gong, nothing but a utterly inadequate method in dealing with its severe downfall.
(Kaiwind, October 15, 2007)
