Longest Established Radio Station in Chile Interviews a Falun Dafa Practitioner from Finland

Santiago, Chile – On Tuesday the 3rd of August, the longest established radio station in Chile, Radio Chilena 100.9 FM, interviewed a Falun Dafa practitioner from Finland:

La Tarde Informativa (The Informative Afternoon)
With Valentina Campos

At this hour of the afternoon in ‘La Tarde Informativa’, and under the frame of ‘the freedom is yours’, we are going to talk about Falun Gong - a discipline also known as Falun Dafa - a practice of meditation and exercises with teachings based on the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and practised in over sixty countries worldwide. Falun Gong has its roots in oriental Chinese culture. In order to know more about Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, we are here with Pia-Maria Sandas from Finland. She will be telling us more about the discipline, the persecution, different errors that might exist in terms of associating the discipline etc. This is why she is here with us this afternoon.

Valentina: How are you Pia-Maria? Welcome to La Tarde Informativa (The Informative Afternoon).

Pia-Maria: Hello Valentina, thank you.

Valentina: We would first of all like to know, what is Falun Dafa?

Pia-Maria: Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient discipline, a cultivation practice. Falun Dafa describes the discipline as a whole, and Falun Gong refers more specifically to the exercises, which are a form of Qigong. As mentioned, it is an ancient discipline that in the past was transmitted from master to disciple, but in 1992 Mr. Li Hongzhi introduced it to the public, and today it is practised in more than sixty countries by around one hundred million people.

Valentina: Now, about this persecution that we have heard and got to know about, people that are in concentration camps, in forced labour camps, have they been detained only for practising Falun Gong, or are there other reasons?

Pia-Maria: Falun Dafa is prohibited and persecuted in China. But if you please permit, I will first explain a little bit more about Falun Dafa, and then…

Valentina: …and then we talk about the persecution later.

Pia-Maria: Yes. Falun Dafa focuses on improving the body, the mind and spirit. We all know that a being is not only a body. To give an example I always say that if you go to a gym, but in your daily life you lie, you steal, kill people, obviously you are not a balanced human being. It takes much more than just exercises to be a balanced human being with inner peace.

Falun Dafa consists of two parts, the exercises that consist of four standing exercises in movement, and one sitting meditation. The other part, the cultivation, is based on the universal principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and how to incorporate and live according to these principles in our daily lives, and how to be a better person.

Valentina: Perfect… Is there a special technique, a special connection in terms of spiritual terminology, or maybe in terms of relaxation, and what happens with the body when doing these exercises for example?

Pia-Maria: The practice improves the physical health a lot, for example it relieves tensions and anxiety and increases energy and vitality very much. There are plenty of studies that have been done at different hospitals around the world, with impressive results. Falun Dafa has received many recognitions around the world. For example, Master Li Hongzhi has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Price for the last three years for having introduced the practice to society. Every month we receive more awards and recognitions, and for example in the United States and Canada, mayors and senators have given more than 800 awards and proclamations to the practice.

Valentina: Now, if the Master who introduced and made the practice known to the public has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Price, why is the persecution taking place? Maybe it is considered a cult? But did you not tell us that it is more like a discipline?

Pia-Maria: Yes. The defamatory word that you mentioned is very wrong to use for Falun Dafa, there are even documents from, for example Human Rights Watch, giving strict directives to the Chinese Government to immediately stop using this word, a word that they started using as one of their strategies to try to defame the practice.

Between 1992 and 1999 the practice was well supported in China. They gave awards, for example Falun Dafa was voted the best qigong at the Health Expo in Beijing in 1992. But when Jiang Zemin, the previous dictator that is now the head of the Chinese military and as such continues to hold tremendous power in China, when he at the end of 1998 did a government survey and found that more than seventy million Chinese people were practising Falun Dafa, he forbade the practice.

Valentina: Only because they practise it?

Pia-Maria: The international theory is that he took it as a threat to his power. Well, China is a dictatorship and everything is controlled by the state.

We have a lot of support, from Amnesty International, the UN Human Rights organisations, Presidents, the President of the European Parliament, and senators in different countries. Many people have spoken up about this, and they support Falun Dafa and condemn 100% what is happening in China.

Valentina: Pia-Maria, now, in relation to the immolations that have occurred and that have been linked to Falun Dafa, immolations that we have seen on the news, for example in Tiananmen Square…

Pia-Maria: First, I would like to ask a question: How can it be that a discipline that is freely practised in over sixty countries, and where the governments, mayors and senators give Falun Dafa so many awards and recognitions, is persecuted only in a country with a dictatorship famous for having the worst human rights in the world? I think that already here we see that something is not right.

And in regards to this supposed ‘self-immolation’, there are documents from the United Nations – I have them with me here – that say that they have received a tape which they have analysed and investigated, and that in their opinion this was staged by the Chinese Government itself in order to turn public opinion against Falun Dafa. This tape from CCTV has been studied and examined by different groups in the United States, Canada and the United Nations, and the theory is that it was set up and staged by the Chinese government itself. I also want to add that in Falun Dafa it is absolutely prohibited to kill. We live according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, and to kill in any shape or form is prohibited.

This is not the only thing that the Chinese Government has done in its strategy and attempts to try to turn public opinion against Falun Dafa. But, governments throughout the world are supporting us and are attempting to do what they can in order for this tragic persecution to come to an end in China.

I also want to comment on an important thing that is going on in the world: in seventeen countries lawsuits have been filed against the Chinese leaders that started the persecution, principally Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, and at this level it is already classified as Genocide, so the situation is very grave.

Valentina: Pia-Maria, what it happening in our country in regards to the practise of this discipline?

Pia-Maria: First of all, Falun Dafa is free all over the world, there is no for profit interest. It is not an organisation, one does not need to register anywhere, one can come and go as one pleases, and it is practised in parks and the open air. Here in Santiago a lady called Veronica Rosselot gives free classes twice a week in a park in Providencia.

Valentina: Now I imagine that in addition to practising the exercises, there is also a theoretical part, explanations of what you were saying before, in order for people to learn and know how to practise this discipline.

Pia-Maria: The principal book is called Zhuan Falun, and is one of the most read books in the world. A very nice thing that I would also like to mention is that even the Pope in Rome, who received the book in 2002, has given his blessings.

Valentina: Pia-Maria, I would also like to ask how you came in contact with the practice. You are from Finland, you said that is around five years since you started to practise the discipline of Falun Dafa. How did you start?

Pia-Maria: After having worked many years around the world as a fashion model and in TV, even here in Chile as you know, towards the end I really felt a lack of internal peace. It was a very difficult world in many aspects, and I really needed some internal peace… First I started practising karate… and there was a teacher who I one day saw doing the exercises. It looked so beautiful, so tranquil, and so peaceful. Well, I asked what it was, he explained a bit, showed me the exercises, and also gave me the book Zhuan Falun as a present. I immediately knew it was something so very beautiful. I also liked the fact that it was free, and the exercises are very easy to learn. It has helped me so much. I have a tranquillity and inner peace that I did not have before…

Valentina: Pia-Maria, let us tell all of the listeners that there are web pages where they can obtain more information about Falun Dafa, the web pages are www.falundafa.org and www.faluninfo.net. We want to thank you for having been with us here in La Tarde Informativa (The Informative Afternoon), and wish you all the best.

Pia-Maria: Thank you Valentina.