* Central Leading Group for Preventing and Handling the Problem of Heretical Organizations ( related to Falun Gong );

Falun Gong differs from Buddhism in its definition of the term " karma ," Ownby says, in that it is taken not as a process of award and punishment, but as an exclusively negative term.

Falun Gong teaches that the spirit is locked in the cycle of rebirth, also known as samsara due to the accumulation of karma.

Falun Gong states that karma is the reason for suffering, and what ultimately blocks people from the truth of the universe and attaining enlightenment.

Ownby regards the concept of karma as a cornerstone to individual moral behaviour in Falun Gong, and also readily traceable to the Christian doctrine of " one reaps what one sows ".

Ownby says Falun Gong is differentiated by a " system of transmigration " though, " in which each organism is the reincarnation of a previous life form, its current form having been determined by karmic calculation of the moral qualities of the previous lives lived.

* 1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People's Republic of China.

Stephen A. Kent analyzes and summarizes the use of the brainwashing meme by non-sociologists in the period 2000-2007, finding the term useful not only in the context of " New Religions / Cults ", but equally under the headings of " Teen Behavior Modification Programs ; Terrorist Groups ; Dysfunctional Corporate Culture ; Interpersonal Violence ; and Alleged Chinese Governmental Human Rights Violations Against Falun Gong ".

In spite of this, dissent continued to be suppressed, and President Jiang Zemin launched a brutal crackdown against the Falun Gong religious sect in 1999.

* May 13 – Falun Gong is introduced by Li Hongzhi in China.

The use of the swastika by the Bön faith of Tibet, as well as later syncretic religions, such as Cao Dai of Vietnam and Falun Gong of China, can also be traced to Buddhist influence.

Falun Gong or Falun Dafa ( literally means " Dharma Wheel Practice ") is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 through public lectures by its founder, Li Hongzhi.

Falun Gong emphasises morality and the cultivation of virtue in its central tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance (), and identifies as a qigong practice of the Buddhist school, though its teachings also incorporate elements drawn from Taoist traditions.

Through moral rectitude and the practice of meditation, practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to better health and, ultimately, spiritual enlightenment.

Falun Gong emerged at the end of China's " qigong boom ", a period which saw the proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving exercises and regulated breathing.

Western academics have described Falun Gong as a qigong discipline, a " spiritual movement " based on the teachings of its founder, a " cultivation system " in the tradition of Chinese antiquity, and sometimes a religion or new religious movement.

Although the practice initially enjoyed considerable support from Chinese officialdom, by the mid-to late-1990s, the Communist Party and public security organs increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence from the state, and spiritual teachings.

By 1999, some estimates placed the number of Falun Gong adherents in the tens of millions.

In October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a " heretical organization " and began banning Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong.

Human rights groups report that Falun Gong practitioners in China are subject to a wide range of human rights abuses ; hundreds of thousands are believed to have been imprisoned extrajudicially, and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities.

In the years since the suppression campaign began, Falun Gong adherents have emerged as a prominent voice in the Chinese dissident community, advocating for greater human rights and an end to Communist Party rule.

* December 8 – The last blast is fired at the Falu Copper Mine in Falun, Sweden, after a millennium of continuous operation.

* The Swedish town of Falun is given city rights by Queen Kristina.

Falun Dafa is said to be the result of his reorganizing and writing down the teachings that were passed to him.

Falun Gong is distinct from other qigong schools in that its teachings cover a wide range of spiritual and metaphysical topics, placing emphasis on morality and virtue, and elaborating a complete cosmology.

Adherence to and cultivation of these virtues is regarded as a fundamental part of Falun Gong practice.

In Zhuan Falun ( 轉法輪 ), the foundational text published in 1995, Li Hongzhi writes " It doesn't matter how mankind's moral standard changes … The nature of the cosmos doesn't change, and it is the only standard for determining who's good and who's bad.

In Falun Gong's central text, Li states that xinxing " includes virtue ( which is a type of matter ), it includes forbearance, it includes awakening to things, it includes giving up things — giving up all the desires and all the attachments that are found in an ordinary person — and you also have to endure hardship, to name just a few things.

Among the central concepts found in the teachings of Falun Gong is the existence of ' Virtue ' (' 德, Dé ) and ' Karma ' ( Ye ).

The exercises are regarded as secondary to moral elevation, though is still an essential component of Falun Gong cultivation practice.

An exemption is made for Buddhist monks and nuns, who are permitted to continue a monastic lifestyle while practicing Falun Gong.

Excessive interest in politics is viewed as an attachment to worldly power and influence, and Falun Gong aims for transcendence of such pursuits.

Many religions ... pursue social reform to some extent ... but there is no such tendency evident in Falun Gong.

Called China Falun Gong, or simply Falun Gong, is an introductory text that discusses qigong, Falun Gong's relationship to Buddhism, the principles of cultivation practice and the improvement of moral character ( xinxing ).

The main body of teachings is articulated in the core book Zhuan Falun, published in Chinese in January 1995.

In most mid-to large-sized cities, Falun Gong practitioners organize regular group meditation or study sessions in which they practice Falun Gong exercises and read Li Hongzhi's writings.

By the time of the suppression on July 22, 1999, most Chinese government numbers said the population of Falun Gong was between 2 and 3 million, though some publications supported an estimate of 40 million.

The most commonly reported reasons for being attracted to Falun Gong were intellectual content, cultivation exercises, and health benefits.

Falun Gong was not the only target of the domestic media criticism, nor the only group to protest, but theirs was the most mobilised and steadfast response.

The most critical strategy in the Falun Gong suppression campaign, therefore, was to convince people to reclassify the Falun Gong into a number of " negatively charged religious labels ", like " evil cult ", " sect ", or " superstition ".

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Ian Johnson noted that " Falun Gong faithful have mustered what is arguably the most sustained challenge to authority in 50 years of Communist rule.

According to International Advocates for Justice, Falun Gong has filed the largest number of human rights lawsuits in the 21st century and the charges are among the most severe international crimes defined by international criminal laws.

Falun Gong volunteer instructors and Falun Dafa Associations are currently found in over 70 countries outside China, with the most active communities in the United States and Canada.

Among the most persistent controversies surrounding Falun Gong is its characterization by the PRC government as " xiejiao "— a " heterodox organization ", " evil religion ", or " evil cult ".

The most relevant among these last are Yiguandao ( and other sects within the Xiantiandao category ), Deism, Tiendery-Tientism, Yaochidao and Zailiism ; among the very new ones the most notable are the various Qigong-inspired groups, such as Falun Gong, Zhong Gong, Yuanji Gong and Wang Gong, and Christian-inspired Taiping-style sects such as Zhushenism, Linglingism, Fuhuodao, Mentuhui and Lightning from the East.

Among the very new ones the most notable are the various Qigong-inspired groups, such as Falun Gong, Zhong Gong, Yuanji Gong and Wang Gong, and Christian-inspired Taiping-style sects such as Zhushenism, Linglingism, Fuhuodao, Mentuhui and Lightning from the East.

At the first of these events, the fair ’ s organizer remarked that Falun Gong and Li " received the most praise any qigong school at the fair, and achieved very good therapeutic results.

Considered the central and most comprehensive exposition of the teachings of Falun Gong.