Power of the Wheel: The Falun Gong Revolution [Hardcover]

Ian Adams (Author), Rocco Galati (Author), Riley Adams (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Stoddart (September 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0773732705
• ISBN-13: 978-0773732704
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,734,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fails to Understand Basic Concepts, October 14, 2002

By 

Michael Pearson-Smith (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Power of the Wheel: The Falun Gong Revolution (Hardcover)

The authors do, at least, recongnise the importance of Falun Gong as a crucially important spiritual phenomenon. Their analysis of the first six months of the persecution is adequate, and their description of the mistreatment and torture to which practitioners have been subject is positively heart-rending. They exhibit a sound understanding of the social situation in China and the urgent need for improved human rights in that country. Unfortunately, almost three years down the track, the account in this work is hopelessly out of date. I would therefore direct people to Mickey Spiegel's Human Rights Watch publication 'Dangerous Meditation'. The latter is absolutely excellent on the history of the persecution. It is, however, on more shakey ground when attempting to pigeon-hole the nature of the practice itself. Yet this is nothing to the disastrous Chapter 3 in 'Power...' when the authors' attempt, very unsuccessfully, to get to grips with the teachings of Master Li Hongzhi. They have failed to grasp even the most basic principles and persist in portraying the movement as some kind of offshoot of Buddhism and/or Taoism. Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa to give the practice its proper title - Falun Gong just refers to the exercises and meditation) was passed down from a Master to a single disciple for thousands of years until Mr. Li Hongzhi adapted it for public consumption and introduced it to Chinese society in 1992. Although some terminology from Buddhism and Taoism is used for convenience sake, so people can more easily understand certain concepts, Falun Gong is not derived from either of the aforementioned religions. Indeed Falun Gong is not a religion at all, but rather a way of 'cultivation' or self-improvement system for one's entire being, leading the practitioner towards enlightenment and a higher plane of existence. In fact the authors do not seem to have understood the basic differences between the Buddha and Taoist Schools and the religions of Buddhism and Taoism, which form just a very tiny part of their respective schools. Moreover, the authors' lack of understanding of certain concepts leads them to ridicule those concepts, which is disrespectful in the extreme, as well as being very poor scholarship. I would stongly suggest that the authors, toghether with anyone else who would really like to find out about the wonderful practice of Falun Dafa, begin by reading the introductory book 'Falun Gong(Revised Edition)' ISBN: 1-58613-100-1, followed by the main text 'Zhuan Falun' ISBN: 1-931412-53-7.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not recommended, December 24, 2007

By 

Dane (Calgary, AB) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Power of the Wheel: The Falun Gong Revolution (Hardcover)

This book is definitely not a good introduction to Falun Gong. On the back cover, this book claims to be the first objective scholarly account of the practice. I was shocked however, reading chapter 3 of the book, it showed absolutely no substance or clarity. For a book billing itself as a "scholarly" account, the authors were sarcastic, cynical and terribly disrespectful of a belief system that spread faster than any in history - 100 million practitioner worldwide within 6 years of being spread.

There are much better "3rd party" accounts of Falun Gong - a documentary, "Beyond the Red Wall", being one of them.

However, if you really want to understand the teachings of Falun Gong you have to read them yourself, just read the the books written by Mr. Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong and then Zhuan Falun.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ignorant authors., December 19, 2005

By 

Kevin Lu (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Power of the Wheel: The Falun Gong Revolution (Hardcover)

The authors don't believe in Qi Gong (Chi-Chung). They think Qi Qong is a strange form of exercise. They classify acupuncture in the witch craft category. They think the meridian point are pure B.S.

It's like a guy, who doesn't believe airplane can actually fly, to write a book about Wright brothers. Since the guy obviously never seen an airplane or taken flight in an airplane, and sincerely believe all the airplane in air news are hoax. What kind of books do you think he'll come up with biography of Wright brothers the inventor of airplane?

The authors stupidity showed up in the entire book. I don't know why they even bothered to write a book about a subject that they are totally ignorant.