Monday, August 26, 2002

SPRINGFIELD -- Xueyuan Wu taught herself Falun Gong from the pages of a book.

"After I practiced it, I found myself much more energetic, and I haven't been ill since then," said Wu, who led a Falun Gong exercise session in Greenleaf Park yesterday morning.

Wu, a post-doctoral fellow in physics who lives in Albany, N.Y., and her husband, Bei Gou, a Springfield resident, are hoping to bring the Chinese spiritual discipline of exercise and meditation to Western Massachusetts.

"I want to share the benefits of Falun Gong with other people," Gou said.

Wu's mother was the first in the family to discover Falun Gong.

She mailed a book about the discipline to her daughter, who began studying it, trying to learn the movements from the text.

Gou said he got involved after he saw his mother-in-law's health take a turn for the better. "After I graduated, I observed my mother-in-law's change. I began to practice Falun Gong," said Gou, a senior analyst with ISO New England who got his doctoral degree at Texas A&M University.

In addition to the exercises, which are performed standing and sitting, the practice of Falun Gong includes cultivation of three principles: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

Ed Giblin of Wilbraham read a newspaper article about Falun Gong and decided it might be for him.

"It was something I'm looking for -- quieting my mind, improving my physical health, because I'm not getting any younger," Giblin said.

Giblin attended a session the couple led at the public library in Sixteen Acres and was back yesterday to practice the exercises he had learned.

He and Donna McArdle of Springfield stretched their arms skyward yesterday, copying Wu's example and laughing at their own errors.

While Wu and Gou believe newcomers to the art will benefit from Falun Gong and said it has served them and their families well, the discipline has met resistance from the Chinese government, which has banned its practice [...].

Introduced in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong's practice has spread rapidly.

"Just in two years, (Li) gave more than 50 lectures in China, covering many big cities," Gou said.

According to the Falun Data Information Center Web site, Falun Gong is now practiced by more than 100 million people in 40 countries [Correction: At present, Falun Gong has been spread to over 50 countries].

Gou said he believes it is that popularity that has rankled the Chinese authorities.

Falun Gong practitioners in China have reported detention and torture for their beliefs. Gou said his mother-in-law, a retired physics professor, has been arrested three times for her practice of Falun Gong.

She is currently in detention, and has been for six months, Gou said.

Due to the truthfulness aspect of Falun Gong, adherents refuse to sign documents renouncing their beliefs and then quietly return to them, as Chinese authorities sometimes suggest that they do, he said.

"She asked (the police) a question: If I gave it up, can you guarantee that I will have a good and strong health?" Gou said.

The couple will lead another introduction to Falun Gong at a session at the public library branch in Sixteen Acres Sept. 14.

http://www.masslive.com/springfield/unionnews/index.ssf?/news/pstories/ae826fao.html