A Study of the Effects of Falun Gong on Practitioners in Wuhan City

(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) is a high-level cultivation practice transmitted by Mr. Li Hongzhi. The practice is guided by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which enables its practitioners to cultivate both their minds and bodies.

Falun Gong regards xinxing or character cultivation to be pivotal in the growth of gong (high energy matter), and requires its cultivators to pay attention to xinxing improvement, checking their every action against the criteria of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Through cultivating the human heart and doing the five sets of exercises, practitioners can purify their minds and bodies and improve themselves holistically.

Mr. Li Hongzhi came to Wuhan City in 1993 to teach the Fa. Within a few short years, more and more people in the city started practicing Falun Gong due to its unique cultivation theory and its amazing effects. Many practice sites within Wuhan City's three towns were established. Most of the people who practiced Falun Gong experienced long-term mental and physical health benefits.

Abstract

The following report is based on a random sampling of 2,005 Falun Gong practitioners from over fifty practice sites in Wuhan City. Survey researchers employed a variety of techniques in the collection of survey data with respect to each practitioner’s age, occupation, level of education, length of time in the cultivation practice, effects on their mental and physical health, medical expenses, and individual addictive habits.

The survey focused on the changes 2,005 practitioners experienced after practicing Falun Gong. The data was analyzed using statistical methods, to ensure accuracy and consistency.

The results of the research are dramatic, with 75.15% the survey participants having their health problems resolved, while 23.3% found their conditions improved.

Medical costs among participants had dropped dramatically, with 95.51% of them reporting that they felt both physically and spiritually healthier and they did not need to spend any more money on medical treatments.

The results showed that participants with unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drinking, or gambling, had greatly improved. Of the 2,005 survey participants, 377 people smoked prior to taking up the cultivation practice. After practicing for a while, only three people continued to smoke while eight people smoked less.

Out of 536 drinkers, only three continued to drink, while seven others drank less, after starting the practice.

Out of 420 confirmed gamblers, only one continued to gamble, with 10 saying that they gambled less.

The above data confirms the fact that survey participants' health improved after practicing Falun Gong, thus saving the country millions of yuan in medical expenses. The survey participants who stopped smoking, drinking, and gambling enjoyed healthier lifestyles. We can conclude that through cultivation practice, Falun Gong practitioners have brought great benefits to themselves, their families, and to society.

1. The Study and the Methods

1.1. The Study:

The data was collected in December 1998, from a random sampling of 2,005 Falun Gong practitioners, at over 50 practice sites, within three districts of the three main towns in Wuhan City. Through a general survey questionnaire, researchers noted the different range of health problems that participants had prior to the start of their cultivation practice, and compared their findings to the changes that the participants experienced in their health after the start of their practice. Some of the factors that were studied were the medical expenses that participants incurred prior to and after the start of their cultivation practice, and the changes that the smokers, drinkers, and gamblers underwent before and after the study.

1.2. Methods of Study:

First, a universal survey form was used so each person could fill in his/her own information, according to his/her situation. For those who were illiterate, an agent helped fill out the form according to the person's verbal instructions. Secondly, the information on the form was verified to ensure that it was both accurate and true. Thirdly, data collection and organizing groups made up of medical personnel, statistical personnel, and accounting personnel, were used to summarize and analyze the statistical data.

2. Results

General Situation:

Among those who filled out the survey form, 563 were males and 1,442 were females.

2.1.1 Ages:

The 2,005 survey participants were divided into eight groups, according to their ages, which ranged from seven years old to 85 years old. The number of people in each group varied, with 1,835 of them being between 20 and 60 years old—which comprised 91.5% of the entire group. See Table 1 below for more details.

Table 1: Age Distribution of the 2,005 Survey Participants

Age Group	-10	10-	20-	30-	40-	50-	60-	70+	Total
Number of People	8	34	176	163	387	627	482	128	2005
%	0.4	1.7	8.78	8.13	19.3	31.27	24.14	6.38	100

2.1.2 Occupations:

Of the 2,005 participants in the study, most came from seven different walks of life, including 946 factory workers, which amounted to 47.18% of the total survey participants and 765 county cadres, technical researchers, medical employees, and teachers—which amounted to 38.1% of the total participants. See Table 2 below for more details.

Table 2: Occupations Distribution of the 2,005 Survey Participants

Occupation	Factory Workers	Cadres	Researchers, Medical Employees or Teachers	Students	Small Business Owners	Sales Persons	Other Occupations	Total
Number of People	946	407	358	100	23	72	99	2005
%	47.18	20.3	17.86	4.99	1.15	3.59	4.93	100

2.1.3 Levels of Education:
Of the 2,005 survey participants, 549 had high school or technical school diplomas, 435 had college degrees, and 22 had graduate school degrees, totaling 1,006 people, or roughly 50% of the total survey participants. See Table 3 for more details.

Table 3: Levels of Education Distribution of the 2,005 Survey Participants

Level of Education	Un-educated	Primary School Educated	Junior-high School Educated	High School Educated	College Degree	Graduate Degree	Total
Number of People	115	371	513	549	435	22	2005
%	5.74	18.5	25.38	47.38	21.7	1.1	100

2.1.4 Durations of Falun Gong Practice:

The length of time that the 2,005 participants practiced Falun Gong varied, with the longest being five years and the shortest being less than five months. There were 836 people who practiced from 1.5-2.5 years, amounting to 41% of the total participants, and 276 people who had practiced for four years or more, amounting to 13.77% of the total participants. See Table 4 for more details.

Table 4: Durations of Practice of the 2,005 Survey Participants

Length of Practice (years)	-0.5	0.5-	1-	2-	2.5-	3-	3.5-	4-	5-	Total
Number of People	147	200	195	263	340	173	174	276	14	2005
%	7.33	9.98	9.73	11.77	16.95	8.63	8.67	13.77	0.7	100

2.2 Distribution of the Number of Patients and Types of Illnesses Before and After Practicing Falun Gong Cultivation

Table 5 below shows that many survey participants were plagued with various illnesses. The statistical analysis gathered in the study was derived from three distinct categories: Category I, which involved cases in which illnesses disappeared completely; Category II, which involved cases in which the participants' illnesses were abated, and Category III, which involved cases in which participants' reported no changes at all. There were 1,899 survey participants who had one or more kinds of illnesses prior to cultivation practice, amounting to 94.7% of the total 2,005 participants; the most common health problems were related to the digestion system, the skeletal and joint system, and the cardiac system. Some participants were dealing with two or three different kinds of illnesses simultaneously. Of the reported 5,323 cases of illnesses, 4,000 cases were completely resolved after practicing Falun Gong, amounting to a cure rate of 75.15%; 1,240 cases felt some relief, amounting to 23.3% of the total cases, and only 83 cases or 1.56% of the total participants did not report any changes. See Table 5 for details.

Table 5: Study of Health Problems of Survey Participants

Categories of Illnesses	Number of Patients Before Cultivation Practice	Percentage of Total (%)	Changes After Cultivation Practice
			Number Disappeared	%	Number Alleviated	%	Number Not Changed	%
Trophonosis (Nutrition) and Metabolic Diseases	133	2.5	116	87.23	17	12.78	--	--
Endocrine Diseases	109	2.05	79	72.8	29	26.6	1	0.92
Neural Diseases	433	8.13	323	74.6	100	23.09	10	2.3
Five Senses Organs Diseases (eye, ear, lip,tongue, & nose)	463	8.7	304	65.66	141	30.45	18	3.81
Circulatory System Diseases	874	16.42	668	76.43	195	22.31	11	1.26
Respiratory System Diseases	405	7.61	293	72.35	107	26.42	5	1.23
Digestive System Diseases	1118	21.00	868	77.64	240	21.47	10	0.89
Urinary System Diseases	288	5.41	223	77.43	59	20.49	6	2.08
Gynecological Diseases	129	2.42	107	82.95	21	16.28	1	0.78
Dermatological Diseases	149	2.83	93	60.40	51	34.23	5	3.36
Bone Diseases or Arthritis	1098	20.63	833	75.87	252	22.95	13	1.18
Eccentric & Miscellaneous Diseases	39	0.73	26	68.42	12	31.58	1	2.63
Occupational Diseases	6	0.11	5	83.33	1	16.67	--	--
Tumors	79	1.48	62	78.48	15	18.99	2	2.53
Total	5323	--	4000	75.15	1240	23.30	83	1.56

There were 106 practitioners surveyed who did not have any health problems prior to the start of their Falun Gong practice.

Table 6: Changes in 2,005 Survey Participants' Illnesses Before and After Practicing Falun Gong

Before Cultivation Practice			Health Changes after Cultivation Practice
Group	Number of People	Total Number of Illness Cases	Number of Cases in Which Illnesses Disappeared	Number of Cases in Which Illnesses Alleviated	Number of Cases in Which No Changes Occurred
People Having One Kind of Illness	374	347	245	94	8
People Having Two Kinds of Illnesses	475	950	678	262	10
People Having Three Kinds of Illnesses	513	1539	1135	381	25
People Having Four Kinds of Illnesses	333	1332	1085	253	24
People Having Five Kinds of Illnesses	231	1155	889	250	16
Healthy People	1	--	--	--	--
Total	2005	5323	4000	1240	83

2.3 Changes in Medical Expenses Before and After Falun Gong Cultivation Practice

The study showed that medical expenses were greatly reduced after survey participants started practicing Falun Gong. Out of all the participants with illnesses, 34 spent over 10,000 yuan (~US$1,544) per year; some spent over 80,000 yuan per year, and some spent between 300 yuan and 500 yuan per year. After practicing Falun Gong, 95.50f the survey participants became healthy and energetic, and no longer incurred any medical expenses, with only one person still paying over 10,000 yuan in annual medical expenses.

Table 7: Differences in Medical Expenses Before And After Cultivation Practice of Falun Gong

Annual Medical Expenses (Yuan)	Before Cultivation Practice		After Cultivation Practice
	Number of People	%	Number of People	%
0	266	13.27	1915	95.51
1-500	737	36.76	54	2.69
501-1000	373	18.6	18	0.90
1001-2000	287	14.31	11	0.55
2001-4000	187	9.33	6	0.30
4001-5000	74	3.69	--	--
5001-10000	47	2.34	--	--
Over 10000	34	1.7	1	--
Total	2005	100	2005	100

2.4 Differences in Personal Addictions Before and After Practicing Falun Gong

Out of the total survey participants, 377 or 18.8% were addicted to smoking prior to taking up the practice of Falun Gong. However, after starting the practice, all but three people quit (0.15% of total) and eight people (0.4%) smoked less than before, but had not yet quit. Out of the 536 people who were addicted to drinking alcohol prior to the start of their cultivation practice, all but three people (0.15%) quit and another seven people (0.35%) drank less, after they started practicing Falun Gong. Out of the 420 gamblers, all but 11 people (0.55%) quit gambling after the start of their cultivation practice, but 11 people (0.55%) still gambled. See Table 8 for details.

Table 8: Differences in Bad Habits Before and After Practicing Falun Gong

Prior to Cultivation Practice					Changes After the Start of Cultivation Practice
Habit	Once in a While	Frequently	Not at All	Total	No Changes	%	Doing Less	%	No Smoking at All	%	Total
Smoking	128	249	1628	2005	3	0.15	8	0.4	1994	99.45	2005
Drinking	300	236	1489	2005	3	0.15	7	0.35	1995	99.5	2005
Gambling	228	192	1585	2005	1	0.05	10	0.5	1994	99.45	2005

3. Discussion

1. As shown in Tables 1-5, after survey participants took up the practice of Falun Gong, they experienced many positive changes in their bodies and minds, which is one of the reasons the practice spread so widely, so fast. The people who practiced it ranged from seven years old to 85 years old and came from every level of society, including factory workers, farmers, cadres, scientific/technological researchers, experts in their fields, scholars, professors, and company managers. They also had different levels of education, with most of them being high school graduates, specialized high schools, colleges, universities, or graduate schools, with only 115 people (5.74%) being illiterate. However, most of these illiterate people were able to read Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong, after making some effort.

2. The results in Table 5 indicate that out of the 2,005 survey participants, 1,899 or 94.7%, had different kinds of health problems prior to practicing cultivation, with most of them having more than one illness or 5,323 illnesses in total. After practicing cultivation, survey participants conducted their daily lives according to Falun Gong's requirements and paid close attention to personal character cultivation. They studied the teachings of Falun Gong, persisted in doing the five sets of exercises, and thus greatly improved their minds and bodies. Of the survey participants with health problems, 75.15% had their health problems resolved, while 23.3% found that their conditions had improved.

3. The results from Table 7 indicates that 37 survey participants spent over 10,000 yuan annually on medical expenses. But through practicing Falun Gong, they became illness-free and most of them stopped visiting doctors or taking medicine. According to the survey results, 95.51% of these people did not need to use their medical insurance benefits, which is up from 13.27%, prior to taking up cultivation practice. This effectively saved thousands of dollars per year for the government and for the survey participants' workplaces.

4. The results from Table 8 indicate that among the 2,005 survey participants, 377 smoked tobacco products, 536 drank alcohol, and 420 regularly gambled, for a total of 1,333 cases. However, often times a participant had 2-3 health issues that they were dealing with. After practicing Falun Gong and having their minds and bodies purified, the participants realized on their own that they should voluntarily quit these destructive habits, thus avoiding many painful and costly illnesses. This further contributed to building a better society and harmonizing families.

Please note: In order to protect the participants in the survey, the names and details of the research staff have been intentionally omitted, as well as the specific details of the number of survey participants from the various practice site areas.