Our Practice and the Term “Religion”

Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) is a religious group according to the standard definition of the term. Then why did I say in the past that ours is not a religion? There are two reasons for this.

1) I first taught Falun Dafa in China, which is under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Party regards all religions as hostile forces that are vying with it for people’s hearts and minds, and something to squash or suppress if it cannot manage to co-opt them. So I couldn’t refer to Falun Dafa as a religion without putting our followers at risk. After I came to the United States I was asked by a reporter whether Falun Dafa was a religion. I still said that it wasn’t, since the majority of our practitioners—some 100 million—were in China, even if I was in the U.S. And they were being subjected to suppression and persecution by the CCP.

2) My not using the term was also taking into account what kind of language a divine or enlightened one would use. Neither the Buddha, Laozi, nor Jesus, for example, used the term “religion” for their teachings or practices. That’s just what people call it today. It was only natural that Falun Dafa came to be designated as a religious group as its teachings became widely adopted by many people. So Falun Dafa practitioners around the world have registered their organizations as religious or as engaging in religious activities, and Falun Dafa’s main religious site, Dragon Springs, is a religious temple registered in the United States.

There are people who are not very clear on these matters, so I wanted to address them and set things straight.

Teacher Hongzhi Li
December 1, 2024

(Translation by Team Yellow)