Tue, Sep 04 12:00 PM EDT

(U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Mary Lan often thinks about her home in China. Sometimes at night, she can't get to sleep, she is so overcome with longing. She thinks of the river that runs near her parents' house. She thinks of her father, who is old and not always well.

But what Lan, a visiting scholar in the department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, thinks about most is that she won't be returning anytime soon.

In April her father called and said to her simply, "do not come back."

Many things in China can't be explained over the phone for fear of government wiretaps.

She didn't need an explanation though. Lan knows it's because she and her father are members of the Falun Dafa -- a [...] rapidly growing spiritual movement inside China. Originally an apolitical group, the Falun Dafa is bent on improving the lives of its members through meditation and daily practices.

The [party's name omitted] regime in China, though, sees the numbers of the group as a threat and has instituted a severe crackdown on all practitioners. Since the end of last December, the number of Falun Dafa followers who have been killed by the Chinese government has tripled and over 50,000 people have been put in labor camps, Lan said.

Lan is discouraged by the situation in her home, but as she has learned from the Falun Dafa teachings, she is not angry.

"Before, whenever I encountered conflict, I easily got depressed," she said. "What I learned is to be strong in handling it and to open my heart."

Until the situation improves in China, Lan will work to try and raise awareness on the struggle while she is at IU. A visiting scholar studying communication and culture, she arrived last December on a grant from the U.S. Foundation. In the eight months she has been here, Lan has already started a free meditation session at 6 p.m. every Saturday in the heart of campus at the IU arboretum.

Lan will hold a callout meeting from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today near the Biddle Continuation Center at the Indiana Memorial Union for anyone interested in learning more about the Falun Dafa. Lan will give a demonstration of the five exercises.

"We want to introduce the practice to more people and draw attention to the crisis in China," Lan said.

The Falun Dafa formed in 1992 by Li Hongzhi in China. Drawing upon ancient Chinese traditions and customs, the goals of the movement are self-improvement and increased energy levels.

Its practitioners are encouraged to live according to three major disciplines: truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Members also take part in five daily exercises that are said to strengthen one's energy and one's mind, especially when done in a group.

"The cultivation practices will improve one's nature and raise one's moral standards," Lan said. "The exercises are very simple and very gentle."

Ruby Huang, a Taiwanese-born student studying information sciences at IU, credits the Falun Dafa for improving her life.

"I use to be very headstrong and liked to fight and be on top," Huang said. "When I learned the teachings, my mind became really peaceful. It gives me a positive perspective in my life, and I feel happy and free."

The simplicity and holistic effects preached by the group have attracted over 100 million followers in more than 40 countries [...], Lan said.

The rapid diffusion and popularity of the Falun Dafa has startled the Chinese government. Total membership in 1999 likely exceeded the entire membership of the [party's name omitted] party, according to Compassion, a Falun Dafa journal.

It was in 1999 that the Falun Dafa was banned outright in China and declared a "[Jiang Zemin government's slanderous term omitted]." Anyone caught doing the practice now faces internment in labor camps, torture and death, Lan said. The government crackdown is nothing short of an all out war, Lan said.

"The head of the government is determined to eliminate it because it is so different from [party's name omitted]," she said. "They are torturing people and things keep getting more and more serious. The people just want to practice by themselves. They just want peace."

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