After several Falun Gong practitioners set themselves on suicidal blaze at Tian'anmen Square on January 23, Li Hongzhi and Falun Gong organization he leads jumped out immediately to publish a statement, saying that those committing suicide were not the followers. Then both Xinhua News Agency and CCTV revealed the truth about the incident on January 30 and the public saw with their own eyes how these practitioners sat cross-legged in the blazing fire and shouted loudly the typical slogans of Falun Gong. But, regardless of irrefutable evidence and indisputable fact, Li still refused to admit it, arguing in vain that none of those perishing in fire was practitioner. So what's on earth Li Hongzhi scared of? The organization of Falun Gong cult knew clearly those were practitioners but why would they decline to recognize their identity?
(45'') After the suicidal burning incident occurred on January 23, 2001, both Zhang Erping, the spokesman of Li Hongzhi in the US, and Jian Hongzhang, deputy director of Falun Gong organization in Hong Kong, made public statements and claimed that the incident had nothing to do with Falun Gong, for it was a false and fabricated accusation made by Chinese government. After CCTV's Focus Report and Xinhua News Agency gave it an in-depth coverage and revealed lots of facts, Falun Gong organization made the second statement, denying that the people involved in the incidents were practitioners.
Wang Jindong: The Dafa of the universe is inevitable for the world's people
Liu Siying: Zhuan Falun
WANG Jindong: Whether you can make it or not, at last, there's this Final Test.
Liu Baorong: If you can let go of life and death, you're a God; if you can't let go of life and death, you're a human.
(1'47'') As for those sacrificing their lives for the so-called Falun Dafa, what do they think at hearing the denial of their organization?
Reporter: Li Hongzhi said again and again that they were not practitioners, what do you think about it?
LIU Baorong: We're definitely Dafa disciples; I am one from the very beginning. From his Zhuan Falun, I read all the scriptures and did as he told us to do. I practiced it wholeheartedly to cultivate my temperament.
Liu started to practice Falun Gong in 1995 and had done everything she could for it.
LIU Baorong: I had read Zhuan Falun for three hundred times and it was the content of my everyday life. I was obsessed at that time; to tell the truth, I did nothing at home except for practicing. He said practitioners should let go of fame, material interest, and emotion, and then let go of life and death. That's exactly what I did, step by step; otherwise, I would never have gone to Tian'anmen, let alone committing suicide. In his new scripture, he said we should let go of the body, again and again.
Reporter: In his scripture, what did he say to persuade you to let go of life and death?
LIU Baorong: In his Eliminate Your Last Attachment, he said under whatever the circumstances, if a practitioner can let go of life and death, the evil will be scared; if all the practitioners can let go of life and death, the evil will perish. It's clear that he tells you to give up life. In Towards Consummation, he said that the disciples stepping out were great; to step out, it never occurred to me that it was about our body, about our flesh.
Reporter: That's pathetic.
LIU Baorong: Extremely pathetic, yes; and worse than that, the seven of us are victims.
(4') In recent years, Li Hongzhi published many scriptures encouraging practitioners to "step out" to achieve so-called "consummation"; while his real goal is to bring pressure on Chinese government even at the price of his followers' lives. But when the practitioners did what he wants them to do, Li became afraid. What is it that he is so scared of? Why doesn't he dare to face up to the reality and fact?
A Beijing Resident: He's afraid that his real intension will be exposed.
A Beijing Resident: He'll be a bad guy if he admits it, and then everybody knows he fools people around.
A Beijing Resident: In that case, the organization is done for and, to tell the truth, he'll be nobody.
Qiu Renzong, Professor, China Council for Cultic Studies: I think the Tian'anmen suicidal burning incident is clear evidence revealing the nature of Falun Gong as a cult. We define it as a cult but Li denies it. He doesn't' admit that Falun Gong is a cult. But the incident shows clearly its nature as a cult, for many cults resort to suicidal burning as their last means of control.
Hu Yadong, Professor, China Executive Council for Cultic Studies: As for other cults, the followers will go to remote mountains or areas for collective suicidal burning, and many gurus would die together with their disciples. But this is not the case with Li Hongzhi, for he stays safely in a foreign country and tells his followers in China to die in such a cruel way.
Qiu Renzong, Professor, China Council for Cultic Studies: As a leader, he doesn't do it himself but asks his followers to do it; this indicates that Falun Gong cult is much more dangerous than others.
Wang Yusheng, Professor: All the cults in the world share one thing in common, that is, to do harms to people and to lives. Those obsessed with Falun Gong firstly refused to seek medical help when they fell ill, then tried to look for the Wheel of Fa by cutting open their abdomen, hanged themselves or jumped out of high building, and then committed suicide by burning themselves at Tian'anmen Square. These are inevitable results when a cult gradually unfolds itself.
A Beijing Resident: He causes damages to human beings; if he admits this, he'll be condemned by all the people in the world.
A Beijing Resident: The people in the world are rational and can see it through. The people in the world are rational and can see it through, but he didn't dare to admit it. That's what all swindler and liars would do.
(6'22'') The reason why Li Hongzhi dared not face up to the obvious facts is that he is afraid that the world would see through the nature of Falun Gong as a cult. In addition, another bigger fear of his is that the practitioners find out from the incident that the consummation he advocates is nothing but a lie.
Li Qiuyue, Former Falun Gong Practitioner: Most practitioners want to achieve consummation, to return to the original true self, to go up to the heavenly paradise, and to go back home with him. Once they realize he is cheating and the consummation is a lie, they'll definitely leave him and cease following him.
(6'53'') At realizing the truth and fact about Tian'anmen suicidal burning incident, some practitioners broke away from Falun Gong organization.
Xu Dayuan, Former Deputy Director of Falun Gong Yunnan Assistance Center: Looking back to those days, I was so fearful and anxious for myself. I used to think this was the last ending according to what Li Hongzhi told us; but now I realize that he has always led us on this way and toward this terrible ending.
Yan Baoshuang, Former Falun Gong Practitioner: He gave us the best, that's the heavenly paradise. It's like a big gold apple, tempting us in front on the way. And we also want to give this gold apple to our children. My kid is 12 years old and when I went to Tian'anmen Square for demonstration, I brought my 12-year-old son with me. At that time, I had the same thought with the mother of Liu Siying and I wanted to give the best to my kid. I'm so grateful that the government saved me in time; otherwise, I would do the same as they did and if I did it, I would bring my son with me.
(8') Liu Fengyun, Former Falun Gong Practitioner: If you want to achieve consummation, if you want to cultivate into Buddha, Dao, and God, you've got to let go of physical death. This is the worst part of Li Hongzhi and it's a trap he set for us.
Li Fengdan, Former Falun Gong Practitioner: That exactly what I felt, a swindler cheat a group of fools. Li Hongzhi fools us and we follow him like fools.
(8'26'') In front of indisputable facts, the practitioners finally realize that the so-called consummation that Li Hongzhi advocates is a lie that will never come true. This is what Li Hongzhi afraid of the most, for without followers, he'll be nobody and loses all the supports in foreign countries.
A Beijing Resident: Li Hongzhi is actually a chessman on the chess board of anti-China organizations. He wants to get their supports and determines to get it even at the price of his followers, the lives of disciples, so that he'll get what he wants. He doesn't mind to be used by various organizations. In this sense, he's mean and evil.
After the occurrence of suicidal burning incident at Tian'anmen Square, the nature of Falun Gong as a cult has been clearly exposed. Facing the power of justice, Li Hongzhi and his organization feel increasingly strong pressure in foreign countries.
Wang Yusheng, Professor: If Li Hongzhi admits that his followers did this, there'll be no doubt that Falun Gong is a cult and he'll become valueless in the eyes of his foreign sponsors. At that time, he'll be a homeless dog and concerned about his future.
(9'38'') To show his value to western anti-China organizations, on the one hand, Li Hongzhi kept publishing scriptures encouraging practitioners to let go of life and death, to make more troubles, and even to shed blood so as to achieve consummation. All he wants is to provide convenient excuses for his sponsors to interfere with Chinese internal affairs. On the other hand, when the incident he plotted really occurred, he's afraid that the world would see the nature of Falun Gong as a cult, which would bring pressure on his sponsors, and that he would lose value along with the decrease of followers and end up as a homeless dog. In other words, Li stole things but didn't have the courage to admit it for fear of being punished by the justice.
(10'19'') Hu Yadong, Professor, China Executive Council for Cultic Studies: The fact that Li Hongzhi denied that those setting themselves on fire were practitioners shows clearly that Falun Gong is a cult, and the worse and the most faceless one among all the cults in the world.
But the tragedy is that some of his followers are still loyal to their master.
Reporter: As for practitioners, what kind of man is your master?
Liu Yunfang: He's a great God, he's the Main Buddha.
Reporter: But your Main Buddha didn't recognize you.
LIU Yunfang: That's another story.
They just don't believe that they have been abandoned.
Wang Jindong: It doesn't matter for me; I don't think about it. All I know is that I'm a disciple of Dafa and I'll do what I should do.
(11'17'') So the reason why Li Hongzhi dares not admit that those burning themselves to death are his followers is that he has a guilty conscience. The Tian'anmen incident clearly reveals the nature of Falun Gong as a cult against human beings, against the society, and against science. If he admits that these are practitioners, it means he accepts the concept that Falun Gong is a cult, which will be condemned and spit on by the entire world and will put in a dilemma the western anti-China force he depends on. Li Hongzhi and his Falun Gong organization are life thieves stealing things but daring not admit; but the lies they carefully fabricate will eventually burst like bubbles and Falun Gong cult is doomed to fail.
(CCTV)
