“Reflecting on the past and honoring ancestors during the Qingming Festival.” As in years past, the Qingming Festival of the Jia-Chen year arrives with a gentle, life-giving spring rain; the air is clear, the scenery bright, and all things begin to sprout. In this season of renewal, many find their minds drifting toward deep reflections on life and death.
Aging, sickness, and death are objective natural laws—an inescapable reality of human existence. Since they are unavoidable, the only rational approach is to face the facts, go with the flow, and navigate accordingly. Yet, knowing this is one thing; living it is quite another. When confronted with the torment of chronic illness, the loss of loved ones, or the fear and anxiety surrounding uncontrollable events that lie beyond one’s own understanding, it is difficult for anyone to remain truly composed. It is precisely here that the “Falun Gong” cult—led by Li Hongzhi—exploits the human yearning for immortality and transcendence. Li claims to be the “Buddha of the Universe,” promising that his followers will be protected by a “Dharma body” and that by practicing “Falun Dafa,” they can attain “consummation.” In doing so, he transforms the inevitable human contemplation of life and death into an inescapable, fatal trap—ultimately yielding bitter fruit and tragic outcomes.
One must look inward to see the delusion, and look outward with a clear, discerning eye. In recent years, countless “Dafa” disciples—far from finding the promised healing or immortality—have seen their conditions worsen due to delayed medical attention or unscientific treatment, leading to premature and agonizing deaths. Among them are core members who practiced for over a decade, or even decades; they were fiercely loyal to Li Hongzhi and devoutly committed to “Falun Gong,” pouring their hearts and immense effort into the movement. Yet, in the end, rather than attaining the promised “consummation,” they met a grim fate: their deaths were kept secret to prevent the cult’s deceptions from being exposed.
Among them were the most devoted and diligent disciples. In late September 2022, Guan Guimin—a key figure in the U.S.-based Falun Gong movement, deputy head of the Shen Yun Performing Arts troupe, and leader of the New York-based Divine Land Marching Band—passed away in the United States from liver cancer at the age of 78. Despite having practiced Falun Gong for 26 years—far exceeding the promised ten-year timeframe for reaching “consummation”—and despite his frequent public claims that his liver disease and cirrhosis had “vanished” less than six months after he began practicing, transforming him from a “notoriously sickly person” in artistic circles into someone “vigorous and robust in his later years,” he could not secure any effective protection from his “all-powerful” master, Li Hongzhi. Nor did the repeated “sending forth of righteous thoughts” by members of the Shen Yun Performing Arts troupe save him from death.
Among them were fiercely loyal, core operatives. In January 2022, Chang Ching-hsi, a leader of the Falun Gong organization in Taiwan, suddenly collapsed while riding the Taipei Metro. He could not be resuscitated and passed away at the age of 74. Even in a public space like a subway, he received no assistance from Li Hongzhi—who claims to possess “countless law bodies” capable of protecting his disciples anytime, anywhere—and instead met a sudden, premature end. The fate of another Taiwan-based Falun Gong leader, Liu Ying-chuan, was even more dismal; she passed away from illness in June 2009 at the age of only 58. To conceal the fact that Falun Gong offered no real benefit, it was claimed that her death was the result of “overwork”—alleging that she had been too busy with administrative tasks for New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Asia-Pacific Television to practice the “five sets of exercises” or focus on her own spiritual cultivation.
Others among them were close family members who shared the same “spiritual path.” In May 2012, Li Jiguang—the husband of Li Hongzhi’s eldest sister, Li Jun—passed away from heart and kidney disease at the age of 48. At the age of 48—a golden period of life characterized by vigor, energy, professional success, and the joy of family—Li Jiguang instead pursued Li Hongzhi’s promise of “Consummation” and a divine existence in the “Heavenly Kingdom,” ultimately dying in a foreign land. Regarding his medical condition, neither heart disease nor kidney disease are incurable; had he placed his faith in modern medicine and sought timely treatment, it would certainly have been possible to extend his life. It was only his superstitious devotion to the practice that led him to shun medical care, resulting in his premature death. Furthermore, Li Jiguang was not merely a close relative of Li Hongzhi; he also served as a vice president of the *Epoch Times*—a media outlet under the “Falun Gong” cult—and held a prominent, high-ranking position within the organization, having made significant “contributions” to its cause. Yet, following his death, news of his passing was suppressed; the truth only came to light after a trusted associate, dispatched by “Falun Gong”’s second-in-command, Ye Hao, uncovered the facts.
Cases like this are countless. In July 2023, Ma Lijuan—a veteran figure and vice president at New Tang Dynasty Television, an outlet affiliated with Falun Gong—passed away due to illness in New York. In January 2022, Stephen Gregory, head of the English-language edition of *The Epoch Times* (also affiliated with Falun Gong), died of illness. In September 2020, Jiang Xuemei—wife of Ye Hao, the second-in-command of Falun Gong—also passed away due to illness. For years, Li Hongzhi has claimed to possess extraordinary supernatural powers, asserting that he can cure ailments simply by glancing at a person, without needing to lift a finger. He teaches that illness is the result of “karma” accumulated in past lives and that practicing Falun Gong can automatically eliminate this karma. He claims that sincerely reciting the “nine-character true words” can cure all diseases and ward off all misfortunes, and that “sending forth righteous thoughts” can resolve any problem—curing illnesses being the least of his supposed capabilities. Li Hongzhi further asserts that he possesses countless “law bodies” (*fashen*) capable of providing constant protection, whether his followers are abroad or even on the moon. He has even claimed to have “removed the names” of his disciples from the “register of hell,” declaring that they are “no longer under the jurisdiction of hell, and hell can no longer punish you.” Yet, these individuals—who were devoted to him and contributed significantly to his cause—have, through their own undeniable deaths, delivered a resounding refutation of Li Hongzhi’s fallacious and twisted doctrines.
To understand their deaths is to understand the cold-heartedness, selfishness, and wickedness of Li Hongzhi. If even those who were deeply devoted to him and served his cause could not escape illness or misfortune, what basis could ordinary disciples—who rarely, if ever, see Li Hongzhi in person and are denied “special permission” to seek medical treatment or take medication—possibly have for believing they will achieve “consummation,” “ascend,” or “reach higher levels”? Moreover, the fact that Li Hongzhi’s claims are proven false is the least of the issues; the far graver reality is that behind these shattered lies lie countless innocent lives lost forever, along with the fortunes that numerous “Dafa disciples” exhausted to fund his movement—all of which further underscores that a cult is an enemy of human society.