[Editor's notes:] This article or diary was written by Tony Smith on March 8, 2003. He once believed Li Hongzhi very much, even thought the work of Li was on the whole good. But since that day of March 8, 2003, he has changed his idea completely. He said, "I do not, as of today 8 March 2003, any longer recognize Li Hongzhi as an authentic Teacher/Master."

For some years prior to today, 8 March 2003, I have thought that the work of Li Hongzhi was on the whole good, and I have had web pages about his cultivation way, known as Falun Gong or Falun Dafa, since 1995. I have particularly admired his refusal to charge fees of his followers and his efforts to bring Taoist - Buddha School concepts, as well as the standards of Zhen (Truth) - Shan (Kindness) - Ren (Forbearance), to the general population of the world, thus repairing some of the damage done by Mao's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

Although I still support Taoist - Buddha School concepts and Zhen (Truth) - Shan (Kindness) - Ren (Forbearance), in light of some statements reported in a 28 February 2003 revised draft translation on a clearwisdom.net web page to have been said by Li Hongzhi,

I do not, as of today 8 March 2003, any longer recognize Li Hongzhi as an authentic Teacher/Master.

The relevant statements are:

"... No being knows who I am. ...
  
... Where did I come from then?
I came from the inside and from the outside.
I came from nothing and formed into something.
I appeared at the pinnacle of the colossal firmament,
and from there
I descended into the most surface of the Three Realms step by step. ...
  
... I came to the lowest level ... in order
to ... save all sentient beings ...
  
... Master has gathered the lives of
all of the cosmos's sentient beings
and various elements into his body ...
  
... I have paid back all the sins
committed by all sentient beings in the Three Realms. ...
... I really bore for you the sins
that you have committed over hundreds and thousands of years. ...
... I will also offer you salvation
and turn you into Gods. ...
... Since the beginning of time,
not a single God had dared to do this,
and such a thing had never occurred. ...".

Those statements are not only offensive to me, but they contradict earlier statements of Li Hongzhi himself: 

In a 1996 Beijing translation of Zhuan Falun (volume II), Li Hongzhi said:

"... There exists something of a plane ... called Original God. There is no point in talking about it to the cultivators of today. It is unimaginable and beyond the reach of them. ..."
"... Man is in the lowest plane, above which there are planes of heaven. Tathagata was in such a plane. Jesus ... and Lao Zi ... belonged to the plane of Tathagata ... In such a plane, they could only see things below them. They could see very few things above them and even nothing of the higher planes ..."

"... The .... Buddha ... who is on a ... higher plane does not take care of the human affairs. When men invoke him, he does not hear. ..."

"... What Buddha Sakyamuni preached at his level was the Law of Tathagata, which is very high in the eyes of an ordinary person. ... But Tathagata is not the highest but the lowest Buddha in the universe. Only a Buddha of the lowest rank can administer affairs of ordinary people. ... Nor does the Buddha Tathagata administer them directly. He only gives guidance, and the things will be done by Bodhisattvas. ...".

The 1996 statements clearly contradict Li Hongzhi's new assertion that he "... came from ... the pinnacle of the colossal firmament ...".

Further:

I do not think that Li Hongzhi has "gathered the lives of all of the cosmos's sentient beings ... into his body"; and
I do not think that Li Hongzhi has "... paid back all the sins committed by all sentient beings"; and

I do not think that Li Hongzhi can "turn ...[his followers]... into Gods"; and

I think that it is not true that "Since the beginning of time, not a single God had dared to ... offer ... salvation".

There are many earlier examples of offers of salvation, including but not limited to: the Prophet Mohammed, Jesus, and the G-d of Judaism; and the paths of Buddhism and Hinduism, to name a few.

Since I still support Taoist - Buddha School concepts and Zhen (Truth) - Shan (Kindness) - Ren (Forbearance), and since those aspects of Falun Dafa are what I have described on my web pages prior to today, 8 March 2003, I am leaving the remainder of this page, and related pages, substantially as they were on 8 March 2003 and I do not expect to update them in the future.

(Source from: http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/LIhome.html#LHzFeb03 )