* 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.

In order to re-ascend and return to the " original, true self ", practitioners of Falun Gong are therefore supposed to assimilate themselves to the qualities of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, let go of " attachments and desires " and suffer to repay karma.

Porter writes that practitioners of Falun Gong are encouraged to read Falun Gong books and practice its exercises on a regular basis, preferably daily.

As part of its emphasis on ethical behavior, Falun Gong's teachings prescribe a strict personal morality for practitioners, which includes abstention from smoking, drugs, gambling, premarital or extramarital sex, and homosexuality.

Falun Gong practitioners themselves have sometimes disavowed this classification, however.

In the absence of membership or initiation rituals, Falun Gong practitioners can be anyone who chooses to identify themselves as such.

Volunteer " assistants " or " contact persons " do not hold authority over other practitioners, regardless of how long they have practiced Falun Gong.

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.

In response to the suppression that began in 1999, Falun Gong was driven underground, the organizational structure grew yet more informal within China, and the internet took precedence as a means of connecting practitioners.

Prior to July 1999, official estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners as high as 60 to 70 million nationwide, rivaling membership in the Communist Party.

Most Falun Gong estimates in the same period estimated the total number of practitioners in China at 70 to 80 million.

Other sources have estimated the Falun Gong population in China to have peaked between 10 and 60 million practitioners.

Of 34, 351 Falun Gong practitioners surveyed, 27 % were male and 73 % female.

The events were an important challenge to Falun Gong, which practitioners did not take lightly.

Li made statements that practitioners ' response to criticism showed their hearts and " would separate the false disciples from the true ones ", also indicating that publicly defending the practice was a righteous act and an important aspect of Falun Gong cultivation.

Falun Gong practitioners responded with peaceful protests, which was considered audacious under the circumstances, and lobbying of the station.

Falun Gong practitioners also mounted demonstrations at 14 other media outlets.

Falun Gong practitioners report having phone lines tapped, homes ransacked and raided, and Falun Gong exercise sites disrupted.

By 1999, estimates provided by the State Sports Commission suggest there were 60 to 70 millions Falun Gong practitioners in China.

Falun Gong practitioners protest outside the Zhongnanhai compound.

Falun Gong adherents are required to maintain regular jobs and family lives, to observe the laws of their respective governments, and are instructed not to distance themselves from society.

According to Richard Madsen, Chinese scientists with doctorates from prestigious American universities who practice Falun Gong claim that modern physics ( for example, superstring theory ) and biology ( specifically the pineal gland's function ) provide a scientific basis for their beliefs.

From their point of view, " Falun Dafa is knowledge rather than religion, a new form of science rather than faith.

Li and Falun Gong were then outside the circuit of personal relations and financial exchanges through which masters and their qigong organizations could find a place within the state system, and also the protections this afforded.

Falun Gong reports, on the other hand, depict " disturbing and sinister " forms of coercion against practitioners who fail to renounce their beliefs.

Amnesty International reported that at least 100 Falun Gong practitioners were believed to have been killed in the 2008 calendar year, either in custody or shortly after their release.

Most of the deaths were alleged to have resulted from people refusing medical treatment because of their Falun Gong beliefs.

In 2002, Falun Gong activists in China tapped into television broadcasts, replacing regular state-run programming with their own content.

Outside China, Falun Gong practitioners have set up international media organizations to gain wider exposure for their cause and challenge narratives of the Chinese state-run media.

In 2010, House Resolution 605 called for " an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners ," condemned the Chinese authorities ' efforts to distribute " false propaganda " about the practice worldwide, and expressed sympathy to persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their families.

By the latter half of 2001, however, the volume of media reports declined precipitously, and by 2002, major news organizations like the New York Times and Washington Post had almost completely ceased their coverage of Falun Gong from China.

To counter the support of Falun Gong in the West, the Chinese government has launched their own propaganda campaign, which included visits to newspaper officers by diplomats to " extol the virtues of Communist China and the evils of Falun Gong ", linking support for Falun Gong with " jeopardizing trade relations ," and sending letters to local politicians telling them to withdraw support for the practice.

Thus, Falun Gong practitioners have largely had to rely on their own resources in responding to suppression.

In November 2007, the CBC replaced their documentary Beyond the Red Wall: Persecution of Falun Gong, about persecution of Falun Gong members in China, at the last minute with a rerun episode regarding President Pervez Musharaf in Pakistan.

The government has not prevented Falun Gong members from carrying out their activities in public.

The report alleged that the Chinese authorities were executing a " large but unknown number of Falun Gong prisoners of conscience " and removing their internal organs including corneas, hearts, kidneys and livers for sale to foreign nationals in need of healthy organs for transplant.