Falun Dafa...

[Bubbs]

I have recently started practicing Falun Dafa and I wonder if any of you have heard about it or what your opinions are on it.
What attracted me to it, quite honestly, is that it is free, it is not a religion, nor does it involve itself with politics and you can learn everything about it right on the internet. To me, it seemed like it goes beyond all the superficial stuff that doesn't belong in any spiritual practice and makes it open to anyone. Here is the website for it if you want to see what it is about. It has a lot of Buddhist and Taoist philosophies. :hmmm:

http://www.falundafa.org/eng/home.html

[Irishman]

It seems like this is half of a moral philosophy. It preaches self-cultivation, but does not go beyond that to actively making the world a better place.

It seems to be Buddhism *lite*, without the Bhodisatva ideal. I mean, most sects of Buddhism are not religions either, but at least they focus on self cultivation and working to better the world once you have.

I dont think you can separate a philosophy about cultivation from social cultivation.

It seems like someone took all the interpersonal responsiblity out of Buddhism.

Not that I think it sounds bad, in fact I think that it sounds like a very rewarding practice, but it seems to be half the journey.

[Bubbs]

Interesting points. But the way I think they view the "making the whole world a better place" thing is through self-cultivation. Self-cultivation is having compassion for every sentient being and being honest and all that good stuff. If your boss was a really compassionate person and valued all life, you would have a better time at work and your boss would make more moral decisions. So Falun Dafa makes the world a better place by valueing compassion and tolerance because those virtues affect your decisions and outlook on the world.
Falun Dafa's other big emphasis is getting rid of our various human attachments, but doing so in regular society and not in a temple or monastery somewhere. The focus of all that is for people to return to their true original selves and to the characteristic of the universe which is compassion and tolerance. Which I happen to believe myself because compassion is a binding, healthy force free of any attachment. I don't think life could exist if greed and hatred were the norm so to speak.

At any rate, it is all better explained in a youtube video!!

part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tOtocPGeHsU
part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZgxUaj6LEUo&feature=related