Twenty-one years ago, on the historic day of Nov. 20, 2001, 36 Westerners from 12 countries made headlines for their arrests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, after unfurling a banner that read, “Truth – Compassion – Tolerance.”
These three words are the core moral principles of Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa), an ancient spiritual discipline rooted in the Buddhist tradition that is currently practiced by 100 million people around the world. Its adherents strive to be good and kind and share the message of upright, virtuous living.
After the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) former leader Jiang Zemin launched a persecutory campaign in July 1999 to “eliminate” the practice, Falun Gong adherents, both inside and outside China, have been trying various—but peaceful—ways to raise awareness of and to put an end to the unprecedented brutality that has killed countless practitioners….