Falun Gong

Falun Gong
Family	Chinese / New religious movement
Origin region	China
Founding period	20th century CE
Estimated adherents	Estimates vary widely; practitioners are found in China, diaspora communities, and international networks.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a modern Chinese spiritual movement combining meditative exercises with moral teachings centered on truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

Overview

Falun Gong emerged in China in the early 1990s within the broader qigong environment. It teaches moral cultivation, meditation, exercises, karma, spiritual transformation, and a disciplined way of life. It has also become internationally known because of conflict with the Chinese government and advocacy by practitioners outside China.

Key beliefs

• Truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance as core virtues
• Moral cultivation and self-improvement
• Karma, virtue, spiritual purification, and transformation of the body and mind
• Meditative discipline and exercise practice
• Respect for the teachings associated with Li Hongzhi

Practices

• Five meditative and qigong-style exercises
• Study of Falun Gong texts and lectures
• Moral self-cultivation in daily life
• Group practice sessions and public demonstrations
• Advocacy and human-rights activity in some practitioner communities

Places of worship

• Homes, parks, community centers, online spaces, and public practice sites

Sacred texts

• Zhuan Falun and other writings and lectures associated with Li Hongzhi are central texts

Holidays and observances

• Practitioners may mark Falun Dafa Day and other movement-related commemorations

Branches and related traditions

• New Religious Movements
• Daoism
• Buddhism
• Qigong

See also

• Religion
• Theology
• Philosophy of religion
• New Religious Movements
• Indigenous and Traditional Religions