Zhuan Falun Lecture 1.1

It took me awhile to decide which religion to start with, but I have decided to start with the main text of the Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) practitioners - called the Zhuan Falun.

To my knowledge, Falun Dafa is less of a religion and more of a "cultivation practice." I first became interested in this practice because of a friend of mine who is a practitioner. The goal, from what I understand, is to open up your inner channels of energy for better health and better spiritual awareness. This is done, in part, through five "gentle exercises" that seem to have their root in some form of Tai Chi or Qigong. In so doing, a person will gradually become more moral and more detached from the physical and material world and more focused on spiritual issues.

I believe that the Zhuan Falun is comprised of "talks" or lectures that Li Hongzhi (the spiritual leader and founder of Falun Dafa) gave - as opposed to his sitting down and penning the book. For this entry, I'm focusing on the first paragraph of the first lecture in the Zhuan Falun, entitled "Genuinely Guiding People Toward Higher Levels."

Teacher Li, as I have heard him called, begins by defending the integrity of his teachings and defending the purity of his motivations for teaching about the Fa and cultivation practice. He explains that he is the only person who is trying to guide people into a higher level (of spirituality, I assume), while most other qigong teachers are simply trying to help their students to gain health benefits. Teacher Li addresses this issue saying that there isn't anything inherently wrong with trying to improve the health of others, but questioning why these other teachers do not teach higher levels of cultivation so that the students can benefit spiritually as well. He answers his own question, deciding that these other teachers do not teach spirituality in their cultivation practices because it "relates to questions of major concerns, profound historical reasons, a wide range of issues, and very serious matters." I'm going to go ahead and assume that Teacher Li is simply saying people in China won't teach spirituality because of the suppression of spirituality and religion in China. By the way, those who practice Falun Dafa in China are under heavy, heavy persecution.

Teacher Li also says that the everyday person cannot teach high levels (the spiritual side) of qigong because it "involves the practices of many qigong schools." I may have to do a little more research to understand this, but I know that there are different types of Tai Chi and Qigong, perhaps Teacher Li feels that a person must be highly trained in all of these different types - having trained first in one type, then in another type, and then in a third type, etc. He goes on to say that many people switch from one type to another without ever mastering any one school of qigong, thus doing more harm to their bodies than good! This type of switching around also apparently leads to a disruption in one's (spiritual) cultivation practice.

I'm not going to try to get through this whole lecture in one blog post, because it will be too long. But I wanted to get the ball rolling on this because I have some detailed thoughts about what Teacher Li says in the following paragraphs and, as usual, a little background information is needed!

In the meantime, here's a link to cool, 8 minute informational video I found about Falun Dafa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsqnRidMorM

Advent!

I've been trying to decide whether or not I should participate in the fast of Advent. For one thing, I have always associated Advent with Christmas, and I really don't celebrate Christmas. In addition, I always, always fail at any type of fast. On the other hand, I do love Church tradition and want to be a part of the connection between the life of the ancient and modern church in this way.

I talked briefly with an online friend the other day about Advent. For the Orthodox, the Nativity Fast (pretty much the same as Advent) began already, but I think in the Catholic church it begins tomorrow. My friend is planning to fast during Advent, she'll be participating in a sun up to sun down fast for the entire length of the season.

I went to Catholic.org and got a head start on the Advent Bible readings. The first came from Romans 13:11-14, and it is pretty much a call to those who are awaiting the Messiah to repent, wake up, and begin to live a life worthy of their faith. I find it interesting that Paul wrote this with the expectation that Christ would return in his lifetime or shortly thereafter. Clearly, that didn't happen.

The purpose of Advent is to recall the period in which people awaited the Messiah before Christ's first appearance on earth. However, it also reminds us that we are waiting for the Messiah to return. St. John called people to repentance before Christ appeared the first time, and St. Paul calls his readers to repentance before Christ returns.

To be perfectly honest, I often forget that we are awaiting Christ's return! I don't forget in a way that makes me lose focus or interest in God and in the cultivation of my spirituality, but I forget in the sense that I often hear about the things going on in the world and feel that there will never be an end to the violence, hatred, and discord we seem to constantly be in.

Romans 13:11-14 was a good reminder that we are still waiting for our Messiah, He will bring an end to the drama, and if we are repentant and do our best to please God and serve others, we will eventually live in peace and union with God.

With that in mind, I've begun to see that Advent is less about "Christmas" and more about awaiting the day when this world will finally heal. I feel like that's something I could definitely participate in and attempt to fast for.