Falun Gong History In China, the qigong arts used by Falun Dafa have an ancient history (Technically, refers to the practice while refers to the teaching of the movement, but the terms are now generally used interchangeably.) They were “passed down over the ages from a single master to a single disciple in each generation The disciple would later have a disciple of his own, to whom he would pass on the teachings, thereby quietly passing the practice down throughout history.” Some have speculated on Falun Gong as a cultural renewal of ancient Chinese cultivation forms starting from antiquity as we know it today was not, in fact, originally called qigong The two-character term “qi gong” is nowhere to be found in the ancient texts Qigong’s original names were “great cultivation way of Buddha,” and “great cultivation way of Tao.” It had other names too, such as ninefold internal alchemy, way of arhat, vajra meditation, etc The term qigong was coined in the early 1950s as an alternative label to ancient spiritual disciplines rooted in Buddhism or Taoism, which promoted the belief in the supernatural, immortality and pursuit of spiritual transcendence The new term was constructed to avoid danger of association with ancient spiritual practices which were labeled “superstitious” and persecuted during the Maoist era.1 Li Hongzhi claims to have started practicing self-cultivation after being trained by Quan Jue, the tenth heir to the Great Law of the Buddha School, at age four He was then trained by a Taoist master from age eight to age twelve He claims to have levitated and to have been able to control the actions of his playmates (specifically to stop them fighting) by the power of his thoughts alone He claims to have been instructed by several masters in the mountains and to be enlightened and, who, like Jesus and Buddha, was dispatched to earth to offer salvation and teach the principles of moral cultivation ~ 247 ~