Mr. Li Hongzhi is the founder of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa). The practice combines meditation and gentle exercises with a moral philosophy centered on the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
After Mr. Li introduced the practice to the public in China in the early 1990s, an estimated 70 million to 100 million people started practicing. Since then, the practice has spread to more than 100 countries around the world.
Despite this, in China, the practice has been subjected to extreme persecution by the Chinese Communist Party.
The following article has been translated from Chinese and was originally published on FalunDafa.org
In a profound new teaching released September 30, 2024, Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi offers his perspective on why humanity exists in a state of spiritual “unknowing” and the cosmic purpose behind human suffering. The teaching, titled “Why This World Is a Realm of Unknowing,” presents a sweeping vision of universal cycles and divine salvation that has resonated with practitioners worldwide.
According to Li Hongzhi’s teaching, the human condition of limited spiritual perception serves a crucial purpose in what he describes as a cosmic rescue mission. Unlike divine beings throughout the greater universe who can perceive reality in its fullness, humans remain largely blind to the spiritual dimensions that surround them—a condition he says was deliberately designed by the Creator.
“The greater universe is so vast that no divine beings, heavenly sovereigns, or lords above know what lies beyond. And the number of lives is simply countless,” Li Hongzhi writes. “All lives in the greater universe see, in an all-encompassing manner, the world they reside in from the vantage point of the planes on which they materially exist.”
The teaching explains that this spiritual blindness distinguishes humans from other beings throughout the cosmos, who generally possess greater insight into their existence and surroundings. This limitation, Li Hongzhi suggests, is not accidental but serves a redemptive purpose at what he describes as the end phase of a cosmic cycle.
Central to the teaching is Li Hongzhi’s description of universal cycles following a pattern of “Formation, Stasis, Degeneration, and Destruction.” He explains that the greater universe and all its inhabitants—including divine beings—had deteriorated from their original standards as this cosmic cycle approached its final, destructive phase.
“The reason the greater universe and the numerous universes within it had reached the stage of Destruction is because they as well as the countless lives within them—including the many lords, sovereigns, and divine ones in each of the universes—had become, over the very long course of the Formation, Stasis, Degeneration, and Destruction cosmic cycle, inferior to how they were during the early days of the Formation stage,” the teaching states.
Facing this cosmic crisis, Li Hongzhi explains, the Creator established what he calls the “Three Realms”—a special world outside the greater universe designed specifically for salvation. Within this construct, human existence represents the lowest and most challenging level, where beings possess the least spiritual insight and face the greatest difficulties.
The teaching describes a hierarchy within the Three Realms: humans at the bottom with minimal spiritual perception, “heavenly beings” or “demigods” in the middle level who can see beyond the human realm, and “deities” or “celestial beings” at the highest level who can perceive the two lower realms. However, none of these beings can see the true universe or the realms where higher divine beings reside.
This cosmic arrangement, according to Li Hongzhi, serves a specific salvific purpose. He explains that countless divine beings, sovereigns, and lords from throughout the universe have descended to incarnate as humans, having their higher wisdom and divine abilities sealed away. In this most challenging environment, they must work through adversity to eliminate negative karma while preserving their innate goodness.
“When the final cosmic phase arrived, the Creator gave his approval for the greater universe’s multitude of divine beings, sovereigns, and lords—and the still more massive divine and enlightened beings overseeing each of the greater universe’s different domains—to descend to the world and incarnate in human form,” Li Hongzhi writes. “Here, however, all of their higher wisdom, powers of insight, and divine abilities would be sealed off.”
The teaching addresses why some people struggle with spiritual beliefs, explaining that even incarnated divine beings assume human limitations when they take physical form. This state of “unknowing” leads some to create negative karma, which must then be worked off through life’s hardships and multiple incarnations.
Li Hongzhi emphasizes that karma—negative consequences from wrongdoing—must be paid for according to universal law. He explains that the Creator has taken on some of this suffering to enable salvation, describing this as “the greatest form of compassion, and the greatest form of love, for these lives.”
The teaching explains human suffering through this karmic lens, stating that difficulties such as war, disease, poverty, and other hardships result from the need to eliminate accumulated karma. However, Li Hongzhi suggests that maintaining goodness and kindness even in ignorance creates less karma and leads to an easier existence.
Addressing why supernatural beings don’t reveal hidden truths to satisfy human curiosity, Li Hongzhi states emphatically that they “wouldn’t dare” disrupt the carefully constructed system of spiritual unknowing. This veil of ignorance, he explains, is essential for the salvation process and cannot be lifted merely to satisfy human desires for knowledge.
“All of this is to say that people’s state of unknowing was made this way for their salvation, and to save the greater universe and vast numbers of universes,” he writes. “Since there are such incredibly significant reasons behind this state, the spell of delusion absolutely cannot be broken to suit human wishes.”
The teaching concludes with Li Hongzhi’s assertion that those who successfully work off their karma through multiple lifetimes while growing in virtue and goodness will be chosen for salvation. These individuals, he states, will be delivered by the Creator to a new universe when salvation unfolds in the final days.
This latest teaching adds to a growing body of written works by Li Hongzhi that have been published since he introduced Falun Gong to the public in China in 1992. The practice quickly attracted tens of millions of followers before facing severe persecution by the Chinese Communist Party beginning in 1999.
Today, Falun Gong is practiced in over 100 countries worldwide, with practitioners continuing to study Li Hongzhi’s teachings despite ongoing suppression in China. The practice’s emphasis on moral cultivation through the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance has resonated with millions seeking spiritual development in an increasingly complex world.
Teacher Li Hongzhi
Sept. 30, 2024
Falun Gong is practiced by more than 100 million people worldwide. In China, where the practice originated, Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to extreme persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
