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Disciples of the Buddha Law
Dalby, S.
2018
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Dalby, S. (2018). Disciples of the Buddha Law: The incorporation of practitioners in Falun Gong self-cultivation
and movement-formations in New York and Hong Kong.
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Table of Contents
Index of Figures... vii
Acknowledgements ... iii
Introduction “If you want to understand (the Truth of) Falun Gong, give up your PhD!” ... 1
Introducing Falun Gong cultivation ... 8
Introducing theory from the anthropology of religion ... 17
Methodology ... 25
Outline of chapters ... 29
Chapter One Enemies of the State: A History of Chinese Religion and State Transformations through Encounters with Western and Japanese Imperialism ... 31
Introduction ... 31
The emperor as medium of heavenly power and imperial hegemony ... 34
Moral cultivation and Buddhist-Daoist religious societies ... 35
The impact of foreign imperialism ... 36
Redemptive societies in Republican China ... 39
The cult of Mao ... 41
Flourishing religion and Qigong in post-Mao China ... 42
Conclusion ... 47
Chapter Two Globalizing Chinese Religion: Falun Gong’s Emergence, Transformation, and Conflict with the Chinese State ... 51
Introduction ... 51
The emergence of Falun Gong as distinct from Qigong (1992-1994) ... 53
New media and Master Li’s orientation overseas (1993-1996) ... 55
The impact of new media and Master Li’s overseas travels on Falun Gong (1996-1999) ... 57
Why the Chinese state suppressed Falun Gong ... 65
How Falun Gong was suppressed from 1999 onwards ... 69
Conclusion ... 73
Chapter Three Clarifying the Truth at the Global Headquarters: Tracing the Falun Gong Movement in Public Spaces in New York City ... 79
Introducing Falun Gong in New York ... 84
Falun Gong exercise practice sites in New York ... 94
Falun Gong’s ‘truth clarification’ campaigns in New York ... 101
Conclusion ... 112
Chapter Four Clarifying the Truth at the Frontier: Tracing the Falun Gong Movement in Hong Kong’s Public Sphere ... 115
Introducing Falun Gong in Hong Kong ... 119
Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong ... 121
Exercise practice sites in Hong Kong ... 132
Falun Gong campaigns in Hong Kong... 134
Conclusion ... 148
Chapter Five Master Li’s Mediation of the Buddha Law: Aesthesis and Authority in Falun Gong Movement-Formations ... 151
A history of Master Li in New York ... 155
The persuasive power of the extraordinary ... 160
The aesthetics of Master Li’s authority at Buddha Law study meetings ... 166
Master Li’s mediation of the Buddha Law in New York ... 176
Conclusion ... 181
Chapter Six Asceticism of Commitment: The Ethics of Pain and Truth in Falun Gong Self-Cultivation ... 185
Contextualizing pain in Falun Gong ... 191
“Don’t give up! Pain is good!”: Forbearance in the Falun Gong exercises ... 196
‘Experience sharing’ as a disciplinary confessional rite ... 203
Self-transformation through commitments to ‘clarifying the truth’ ... 205
The ethics of mainland martyrdom ... 214
Conclusion ... 220
Conclusion Disciples of the Buddha Law ... 223
Starting questions and proposal ... 223
Contesting transnational Chinese religion and heritage ... 227
Falun Gong mediation and aesthetics ... 231
Falun Gong cultivation: spiritual exercise (ascesis) and disciplinary practice .. 232
Asceticism of commitment ... 234
Further research ... 236
Bibliography ... 241
Summary ... 255
