LOS ANGELES—One of the largest international gatherings of practitioners of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline was held in the Los Angeles Convention Center on Oct. 16, drawing roughly 4,000 adherents from around the world. The morning session featured the appearance of Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of the discipline.
Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a self-cultivation practice from China, where it was first publicly taught in 1992 and then rapidly became popular throughout the 1990s. Adherence to the practice consists of living by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and performing the five exercises, one of which is a meditation exercise.
Mr. Li often speaks to practitioners at these large-scale conferences, which are typically held annually on the East and West coasts of the United States. On Friday Mr. Li encouraged practitioners to do better in their cultivation, and to continue making efforts to expose the brutal persecution waged by the Chinese Communist Party against the practice in China.
Experience Sharing
Joey Gigliotti, a 23-year-old student from Canada who began practicing a year ago, said, Falun Gong was something he'd looked for his whole life.
“It’s a way to be a good person,” Gigliotti said. “Once I found it, it was clear to me that this was what I needed.”
