| The purpose of this study was to investigate how the Falun Gong in Southern California recruits and instructs followers. Participants were adult followers of Falun Gong who meet regularly in public parks, on college campuses and outside the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. This study used grounded theory methodology (Glaser & Strauss, 2006) with unstructured interviews, overt participant observations of meetings (Livesey, 2008) and text analysis of published Falun Gong materials used by the practitioners. The results included a theory describing Falun Gong (hereafter, FLG), its methods of socialization and suggestions for educators in general. FLG is a revitalization movement that is cross-cultural in nature, spanning the globe through the use of both ancient and modern technologies---from meditation to digital networking. The appeal of FLG springs from its ability to address sore points found, perhaps, in all societies---failures of existing epistemology, ontology, healthcare, morality, politics, community, aesthetics, and the education of the young. FLG is a new mazeway (cognitive map)---a new way of thinking and a new way of life. In short, FLG is a process of continually refining all thoughts and actions by passing them through the internalized standard of "truth, compassion and tolerance."... |
