No Doomsday in Falun Gong


1. Chinese Government Propaganda

On July 23, 1999, a People's Daily (Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper) editorial entitled "Improve Your Understanding, Discern Harmfulness, Implement Policies, and Protect Stability," claimed that Falun Gong "preaches that the Earth will explode and doomsday is coming." The CCP and its media has since propagated this claim in an attempt to link Falun Gong to doomsday cults and to discredit it in the public eye.

However, Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, stated in his 1998 lecture in the U.S., "I can proclaim here to everyone in all earnestness that all of those alleged catastrophes on earth, the doom of the universe, and things of this sort in the year 1999 are absolutely nonexistent."

CCTV [China Central TV, the Communist Party-run television station] broadcast a press conference for foreign reporters hosted by the State Council's Bureau of Religious Affairs and played a video recording alleged to be a lecture by Mr. Li Hongzhi. In the lecture, Li Hongzhi had said "…[catastrophes] of this sort in the year 1999 are absolutely nonexistent." CCTV editors altered the tape by removing the word "non" from "nonexistent," making it appear that Li Hongzhi was saying that there were indeed catastrophes in the year 1999.


2. Misinterpretation of Terms

Another possible origin of the doomsday allegation comes from a simple misinterpretation of a term used in Li Hongzhi's works. In Falun Gong books, Li refers to our current period of time as the "Dharma-ending period," a term first used by the historical Buddha Guatama Siddhartha (otherwise known as Sakyamuni). Some Western scholars and journalists have interpreted this term to refer to the end of the world or a time when a catastrophe is imminent, which it does not. Here is what Li Hongzhi had to say about this misinterpretation:

As we're talking about this here, let me first explain what "Dharma-ending period" is. I'll tell you what "Dharma-ending period" means. Some everyday people and reporters don't understand it, yet they pretend that they do. Once they hear talk about "Dharma-ending period," they say, "Oh no, that Falun Gong is talking about doomsday." They don't understand what's going on at all. The talk of "Dharma-ending period" came from Sakyamuni. What does that mean? Sakyamuni said, "When I am alive and during the next five hundred years after I am gone, people can cultivate according to my Dharma and attain salvation. After those five hundred years, the Dharma I taught will reach the Dharma-ending period." "Dharma-ending" means that the Dharma has reached its end, a time when the Dharma is no longer effective. That's the meaning. It can no longer save people. It's the Dharma-ending, how could an ending Dharma save people? He was talking about the final period of that Dharma, and that was what he meant; it had no connection at all to any cosmic catastrophe.

 - Li Hongzhi, June 26, 1999 in Chicago

The Chinese government has gone to great efforts to paint Falun Gong as a doomsday cult in order to justify its persecution of the practice. Because it controls a powerful state media, has ties to other global media, and has extensive diplomatic ties, it has not been hard for the Chinese government to spread the suggestion that Falun Gong teaches doomsday theories. The problem is that it is far too easy to shoot holes in the Chinese government's claims. If one were to take even the simplest look at Falun Gong's teachings, they would see that the CCP's allegations do not hold up.


3. Quotes

The following contains everything Li Hongzhi has stated in his teachings to his students on the topic of whether or not doomsday exists (emphasis added):

…Some people have even asked me, "When will the catastrophe begin?" I've talked about this issue in my seminars. I've told them, "What catastrophe?" Think about it, who are catastrophes directed at? Good people aren't subject to catastrophes. If there really is a catastrophe it's sure that good people will remain afterwards. Catastrophes weed out bad people. So, since you are a cultivator and you're improving yourself, why worry about that? Whatever catastrophe there is, so what-it has nothing to do with you. That's if there really is a catastrophe. But today I can tell you this clearly: the catastrophe no longer exists.

- December 17, 1994 in Beijing

While you have this person talking about catastrophes and that person talking about catastrophes, I never talk about those things, and it's no use. I don't discuss whether they exist. Even if they do, they'll have nothing to do with our practitioners or good people.

- April 6, 1997 in San Francisco

There are also some cults that are spreading. All of them teach about the end of the world-they all talk about these things. Of course, I've said that catastrophes do exist. Buddhism also believes in them, and Christianity, Catholicism, and Daoism share the same viewpoint. This is the law of the cosmos' evolution, but it's absolutely not like what the cults have professed. Moreover, I've also observed that such an event might indeed exist at a certain period in time, but it's not unsolvable. I can proclaim here to everyone in all earnestness that all of those alleged catastrophes on earth, the doom of the universe, and things of this sort in the year 1999 are absolutely nonexistent.

- March 19, 1998 in New York

I never speak of any great catastrophes and calamities since talking about these things would cause chaos in society, and that would amount to carelessly making irresponsible remarks. So I don't talk about these things. Whether they exist or not, I don't want to bother, nor talk about them. But one thing I will tell you is that what I'm teaching today is the righteous Fa; I am teaching you to be a better person. If you are a good person, are you going to be affected if there is any catastrophes? It is simply so. If people on a large scale in human society all become good, then I would say there would be no catastrophe. Nothing in human history is coincidental since every outcome has a cause.

- May 30, 1998 in Frankfurt, Germany

You might not accept that there are catastrophes, but everyone, including today's scientists, has seen the explosion of numerous planets in the universe. Can't the earth explode too? Why would it have to be only other planets that explode? Of course, this sort of thing absolutely won't happen to our earth. I'm simply explaining this principle.

- July 26, 1998 in Changchun, China

Of course, I'm not talking about catastrophes. The catastrophes that people have spoken of no longer exist. I can tell you this: The type of catastrophe in such-and-such year that people talked about no longer exists. Many prophets already knew that if a certain thing took place in a certain year, their prophecies would no longer be valid.

- February 21, 1999 in Los Angeles

Today, there are one hundred million people who are cultivating, changing their thinking, being good people and returning to kindness. They're truly working toward being individuals who can measure up to the standards existing at different levels of the universe. So could the Earth be blown away? Could it be destroyed? Could the prophecies of those prophets be realized? They can no longer be realized. I'm just saying that starting today, not a single prophecy will be true anymore.

 March 27, 1998 in New York

As we're talking about this here, let me first explain what "Dharma-ending period" is. I'll tell you what "Dharma-ending period" means. Some everyday people and reporters don't understand it, yet they pretend that they do. Once they hear talk about "Dharma-ending period," they say, "Oh no, that Falun Gong is talking about doomsday." They don't understand what's going on at all. The talk of "Dharma-ending period" came from Sakyamuni. What does that mean? Sakyamuni said, "When I am alive and during the next five hundred years after I am gone, people can cultivate according to my Dharma and attain salvation. After those five hundred years, the Dharma I taught will reach the Dharma-ending period." "Dharma-ending" means that the Dharma has reached its end, a time when the Dharma is no longer effective. That's the meaning. It can no longer save people. It's the Dharma-ending, how could an ending Dharma save people? He was talking about the final period of that Dharma, and that was what he meant; it had no connection at all to any cosmic catastrophe.

June 26, 1999 in Chicago