Chi Xiang (a pseudonym), male, born in December 1963, graduated from a key university in China with the major in epidemic prevention. After graduation, he was assigned to work in the municipal epidemical prevention department. At present, he lives in Hunjiang District, Baishan City, Jilin Province. Besides a sunny disposition and a quick mind, he held a diligent attitude towards work. For that, he was highly appreciated by leaders and quickly promoted to be the head of the department. A bright future awaited him……
Because of the intense learning environment during high school, Chi Xiang suffered from insomnia frequently. When in university, his insomnia symptom got even worse, making it difficult for him to fall asleep. Some of his classmates said it was neurasthenia and could be alleviated by strengthening aerobic exercise. Therefore, he learned Tai Chi.
One morning in the early summer of 1997, Chi Xiang went to a local park to practice Tai Chi as usual. On a square on the other side of the park, there were some people practicing an unknown Gong. Out of curiosity, he went over to have a closer look. A middle-aged woman enthusiastically introduced, “This is called ‘Falun Gong’, which aims at guiding people to be better. By practicing it, one could ‘cure diseases and eliminate Karmas’, ‘get levelling-up’, and reach ‘Consummation’ which would bring benefits to the whole family.” Chi Xiang explained what he practiced was Tai Chi. Then the woman said, “The effect of cultivating ‘Falun Dafa’ is much better than that of Tai Chi. ‘Falun Gong’ is unprecedented. Our ‘Master’ is the ‘Master Buddha of the universe’. All ‘Falun Gong’ practitioners are under the protection of ‘Master’s Fashen (Dharma bodies) so that they could avoid misfortunes, keep fit, recover from illnesses without taking any medicine or injection, and even ascend to the ‘heavenly kingdom’. In sum, you could do or have whatever you want after practicing it.” In the end, Chi Xiang was moved by the constant persuasion of the woman. So, the next day, he gave up Tai Chi which he had been practiced for years, and became one of “Falun Gong” practitioners and soon got obsessed with it. Chi Xiang kept practicing “Falun Gong” every day, indulging himself with “further advancement”, “levelling-up” and “activating the heavenly eyes”. He didn’t stop practicing “Falun Gong” even during the period when he was sent to Tibet for supporting construction work there by his unit.
In the summer of 1999, when Chi Xiang was about to be selected as a leader of the unit after returning from Tibet, he lost his chance of promotion because the state banned “Falun Gong” in accordance with laws. He couldn’t think it through, so he continued to spend all his time on “learning Dafa and practicing Falun Gong”, fantasizing about ascending to the golden “Falun world”.
Due to extreme physical and mental exhaustion, Chi Xiang suffered from serious insomnia and started to act in an eccentric way. His mother travelled a long distance to visit him. In the unit, both his mother and leaders all tried hard to dissuade him by saying that the state had banned the “Falun Gong” and, therefore, it was illegal to practice “Falun Gong” or distribute its leaflets. They all said the only right way to take was to break away from it and have his normal life back. However, Chi Xiang wasn’t swayed by their earnest persuasion. In despair, his mother knelt down in front of him, begging him to change his mind. But her desperate effort also failed. Instead, Chi Xiang regarded his mother and leaders as “demons” or “reincarnation of devils in hell” who tried to undermine “Dafa”.
Before practicing “Falun Gong”, Chi Xiang had a very happy family. He and his wife loved each other very much. However, after practicing “Falun Gong”, in order to “cultivate away the fame, material interest, and emotion which were filthy but obsessed by ordinary people”, he and his wife gradually grew apart. Later, he even lived apart from his wife. During the separation, the couple once sat together for a discussion. His wife kindly dissuaded him from believing in “Falun Gong”, but he was so obsessed with it that he stubbornly refuted her suggestion, “Don’t you dare to speak such nonsense to me. ‘Falun Dafa’ is a science, and the utmost one. How dare you speak evil of my ‘Master’ and his ‘Dafa’? For that, you are going to the bottom pit of hell and wait to be obliterated!” Finally, his wife had enough of his craziness and torn up “Falun Gong” books right away. At first, Chi Xiang was astonished by his wife’s behavior. But soon, he shouted madly at his wife, “You devil, I’ll fight it out with you and defend Dafa against you!” At the same time, the couple wrestled with each other.
Because Chi Xiang was wholeheartedly in pursuit of the “perfect heaven” depicted by Li Hongzhi, he neglected his own son. As a result, his son’s academic performance plummeted until he dropped out of school. Then, at a young age, his son muddled along in the society, spent his time on surfing the internet and playing video games, and acquired bad habits such as telling lies and spending money recklessly.
A family on the verge of being broken, a stubborn and obsessed husband, and a son that went astray and became cynical, it was just too much for his wife. So, she filed a divorce. And Chi Xiang agreed without hesitation.
In the spring of 2005, the couple officially got divorced. Chi Xiang felt happy that he had unbind himself and could gear up for his cultivation. In the summer of 2006, Chi Xiang was arrested by the public security administration for conspiring to hijack the cable TV broadcast. Then, he was punished according to law and fired by his unit. Later, his mother died of depression due to years of worrying about him.
After abandoning his family, Chi Xiang chose to live in a rented place and rely on part-time jobs or financial help from fellow practitioners to cover his daily expenses. At that time, he became even more addicted to “Falun Gong”. Besides practicing “Falun Gong”, he devoted himself to printing illegal leaflets day and night, and distributing them hither and thither. He would either throw them in hallways of apartments, stick them under doors or into mailboxes, which made him exhausted and listless all day long.
Chi Xiang’s physical condition was deteriorating and suffered from severe insomnia. He also got more and more upset. Because he lost his sleep a lot, he always looked dizzy and frequently talked to himself. As for the medicine that could nourish his brain, he hadn’t had any of it since he was obsessed with “Falun Gong”. Chi Xiang often muttered to his neighbors that illness was the result of “heavy load of Karma” so that diseases could be cured simply by “eliminating Karma”, and that if he took any medicine, it would be an act of doubting his “Master” which would cause the “Karma” to come back. Therefore, he announced that anyone who tried to persuade him into taking medicine would be “a demon”.
One day in the winter of 2009, Chi Xiang had an illusion that he heard his “Master” talking to him in the air, saying that he had achieved “Perfection” and could “get rid of his body and ascend to Heaven”. So, he plunged to the iron-made radiator and banged his head on it. The thump alarmed the landlord and hurriedly took Chi Xiang, whose head was covered with blood, to a city hospital. After waking up, Chi Xiang muttered he heard that his “Master” summoned him in the air and asked him to die, so he had to do it. Based on primary diagnosis, doctors suggested sending Chi Xiang to Kangning Hospital in the city for further treatment.
At Kangning Hospital, the doctor immediately made a diagnosis that Chi Xiang suffered from “schizophrenia”. The doctor explained that “Falun Gong” practitioners often experience auditory and visual hallucinations. Consequently, they would hear a voice in their ears telling them not to stop cultivating, sitting in meditation or “ascending to Heavens”. The doctor added that symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, such as delusions of “activating the heavenly eyes”, achieving “Perfection”, having rotating “Falun” in the stomach, etc., would cause disorders in many aspects including language, logic, thinking, cognition, emotion and so on, which was normally categorized as reactive psychosis.
After nearly a month of medical treatment in hospital, Chi Xiang’s mental condition was under control and was taken back home by his brother after being discharged. Afterwards, he often sat at the door, muttering to himself or shaking his head from time to time. Their neighbors remarked, “‘Falun gong’ is quite harmful. Just see how Chi Xiang was driven mad by it. He used to dress decently and look dashing. Now, he ended up with an unkempt and wretched appearance. What a pity!”
Chi Xiang, who was once vigorous and enterprising, is now mentally deranged, with dull eyes and a messy appearance. It was the evil “Falun Gong” cult that destroyed him.
