University of Notre Dame Holds Seminar on Falun Gong and China's Political Influence

The PI SIGMA ALPHA fraternity at The University of Notre Dame held a seminar on Falun Gong and China's political influence on Feb. 28. The concept was conceived by Peter Moody Jr, a professor that teaches Chinese politics, and Dian Murry, history professor and the Dean of the Undergraduate Academic Department. More than 20 people attended the seminar including local professors, students, community members and journalists.

The seminar started at 5:00pm by introducing the five sets of movements and the three principles of Falun Gong: Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Topics ranged from how pressure and conflict takes place in daily life to how practicing Falun Gong has a positive effect on those issues and on the whole well-being of the society. "Self-experiencing" is the positive attitude of westerners toward understanding new things. Therefore, they started to experience Falun Gong by trying the first four sets of movements. Most people felt their joints were relaxed after doing the stretching and relaxing movements of the first set. Beside the five sets of movements, they also talked about how their physical condition could be improved if they follow the three principles of "truthfulness, compassion and forbearance" to try to be better person. They pointed out that if people get rid of all sorts of attachments such as jealousy, rage, hatred, greed, etc, could they match the natural characteristics of the universe. They will have less trouble and sadness and so they will be able to approach the next level of cultivation.

The second part of the seminar emphasized China's crackdown on Falun Gong and its inhumane treatment of Falun Gong practitioners such as detention and criminal prosecution. The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic college. Therefore, they were also very concerned with the religious freedom and other religious issues among which they mentioned that the Chinese government designated 5 catholic priests by themselves.

The third part was Q & A. someone suggested that because Falun Gong was a secret organization and had a great number of practitioners, it posed a threat to the government who then adopted a series of suppressive actions. Falun Gong is totally open to the outside world. Anybody can join any practice site at any time. There is no membership cards or fees. Falun Gong practitioners willingly confess their status to policemen whenever they are asked. Therefore, the so-called secret organization does not exist. As to the issue of practicing by oneself instead of gathering together, we believe practicing Falun Gong is like studying at school for students. If students are only allowed to study at home instead of discussing problems with other students, they will lose valuable opportunities to compare themselves with others and obtain experiences from others' lessons, which is very important for improvement. During the seminar, some people also suggested that the Chinese government could open up a communication channel to communicate with Falun Gong members. They could also set up an administrative procedure for this communication channel.

After the seminar ended at 6:30pm, Jenn Hinkle, the host, and Professor Murry treated Falun Gong practitioners: Yiyuan Zhao (Aerospace Engineering professor at University of Minnesota), John Nania (software engineer), Sen Yang (Physics Ph.D, senior engineer at Motorola) and Hongzhao Dai (President of Fuxing Bank in Chicago) to dinner. During the dinner, the host talked in Chinese sometimes. All of them hoped that the situation would change to a better and more constructive direction, which would also greatly benefit China and the world.