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Why Everybody Should Know About the Significance of World Falun Dafa Day
May 13th, is a red-letter day for millions of people all over the world whose lives have been positively influenced and changed by Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice based on the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. On World Falun Dafa Day, countless people convey their gratitude towards Master Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa by holding parades and celebrations and sending millions of greetings from people all over the world expressing their gratitude for the phenomenal transformations in their physical and mental well being. Falun Dafa is practiced by over 10 crore people in 120 countries. Falun Dafa is a great gift to mankind and if taken to heart and practiced diligently, it can bring about a renaissance in the moral fibre of society.
Falun Dafa was presented in China in 1992 by Master Li Hongzhi. He simplified and modified what his Masters had left to him so that the common man could benefit from the discipline. It was presented as Falun Gong so that people could identify with similar qigong (energy building) practices of meditation, and slow-moving exercises. What sets Falun Dafa apart from other qigong schools, is the absence of fees or formal membership, lack of daily rituals of worship and an emphasis on ethics or virtue, and the spiritual nature of its lessons.
Although initially the practice was welcomed with considerable backing by Chinese administration, by the mid- to late 1990s, the Communist Party began to gradually perceive Falun Gong with suspicion due to its fame, growing numbers, and spiritual principles. By 1999, government estimates placed the figure of Falun Gong practitioners at 7 crore. On July 20th 1999, Jiang Zemin who served as a General Secretary of the Communist Party of China at that time, banned Falun Dafa in China and commenced a inhumane oppression of its disciples. The carnages that continue to this day are similar to the horrible tortures carried out in Hitler’s Germany during World War II. The worldwide awareness of this issue has caused in a big wave of support of the targets of the persecution in recent years. Falun Dafa practitioners put up peaceful resistance following the great tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Mr. Li Hongzhi, a two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee has also been nominated by the European Parliament for the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. He is a beneficiary of the International Religious Freedom Award from the Freedom House.
Falun Dafa in India
India with its rich cultural and spiritual legacy has always welcomed other spiritual faiths. Falun Dafa was presented in India in 2000 and officially registered in 2004. Since then the exercise and meditation practice has been introduced in schools and colleges across the length and breadth of India. Falun Dafa was well received by the Police academies in Delhi and Hyderabad. Falun Dafa practitioners have been invited by numerous large organizations to introduce the practice to their senior executives. Interestingly, jail superintends have also requested an introduction of the exercise and meditation practice to inmates.
In most countries political leaders join World Falun Dafa Day carnivals to encourage freedom of belief and recognize the practitioners' contributions to their communities. The amazing spectacle of Falun Dafa is summarized in the words of Mark Palmer, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and board member of the Freedom House: “Falun Gong is the greatest single spiritual movement in Asia today. There is nothing that begins to compare with it in courage and importance.”
For more information visit: falundafa.org, faluninfo.net