Falun Gong Becomes an Honors Course at American University

In the new school year that started as of September 2017, University of South Carolina at Aiken began offering for the first time a course titled “Introduction to Falun Dafa Meditation and Cultivation.” The course code is “HONS 201.”

The professor teaching the course is Falun Gong practitioner, Dr. Frank Xie, an Associate Professor at the School of Business Administration. According to Dr. Xie, Honors courses are eligible to the best performing students at American colleges and universities. The students must have a GPA above 3.5, which reflects their self-motivation to seek higher knowledge. Honors courses are specialized classes with richer, in-depth content that covers a wider breadth.

“They are very diligent. Some focus on the movements of the exercises. Others ask questions such as what is xinxing (mind-nature, or inborn quality), acupuncture, acupuncture points, energy, gong, etc. The students are very interested in this course that teaches Falun Gong. Sometimes they smile knowingly while reading Zhuan Falun,” describes Dr. Xie. Because Falun Gong practice is entirely voluntary, yet a school course must have a grading standard, Dr. Xie encourages students to use the length of time they can practice the second and fifth exercises as evaluation. In addition, each student is required to write an end-of-term experience sharing paper.

Dr. Xie elaborates, “We are about to begin studying the third lecture in Zhuan Falun and I’m about to start teaching the fourth out of five exercises. Through this course, students will learn about Falun Gong, the basic concepts of Easter meditation and cultivation, Asian cultivation culture, the contents of Zhuan Falun, reasons for the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist government, and how to cultivate independently in the future. Obviously, they’ll also experience firsthand the health benefits and moral improvement brought by practicing Falun Gong.

Besides this honors course, the Falun Gong course offered to adults continues to be administered this year. Starting on September 7, 2016, the Academy of Lifelong Learning at the University of South Carolina in Aiken has offered the course “Falun Dafa Cultivation and Meditation.” Last year, 29 people registered for the course, including Dr. Thomas Hallman, retired chancellor of the university. Dr. Hallman said, “It’s my first time experiencing Falun Gong. I am very interested to continue learning and understanding Falun Gong.”

学习法轮功成为 美国大学荣誉课程

二零一七年九月新学期开学后，美国南卡罗莱纳大学艾肯分校首次开办《法轮大法打坐及修炼导论》（Introduction to Falun Dafa Meditation and Cultivation）课。该课程在艾肯分校中的编号为“HONS 201”（荣誉课程201号）。

据负责该课程教学的老师，是该校商学院终身教授，法轮功学员谢田教授介绍，“荣誉课程”（Honors Course）是美国大学专门给学校里学术成绩最好、GPA最高（3.5以上）、有学习动力的优秀大学本科生准备的，是内容更深、更广、更丰富的专门课程。

谢田博士说：“他们都很认真，有的专注于炼功动作；有的会提一些问题，什么是心性、针灸、穴位、能量、功……学生们对这门教学法轮功的课程很感兴趣。有时他们在读《转法轮》（法轮功的主要著作）时还会会心的一笑。”由于法轮功的修炼是完全自愿的，没有硬性要求，而要成为学校的一门课程，就需要有考核标准，所以在实际课程考核中，谢教授鼓励学生们用第二套和第五套静功坚持时间作为一个考评，然后在学期末就请学生写一个心得体会的交流稿。

谢田说：“现在我们已经要学《转法轮》第三讲，五套功法要开始教他们第四套功法了。通过这个课程，主要是希望他们了解法轮功是什么?东方打坐修练的基本概念、亚洲修练文化、《转法轮》的内容，中共为什么要迫害法轮功?以及自己以后想要修炼该如何做?当然他们也会亲身体验到修炼法轮功带来的身体健康、道德升华。”谢田感到很欣慰，因为除了这个荣誉班外，从去年开始的成人班，今年也还持续著。

据悉，二零一六年九月七日开始，由南卡罗莱纳大学艾肯分校暨终身教育学院（Academy for Lifelong Learning）提供的机会，有二十九名成人报名参加介绍法轮大法修炼的课程；其中该校终身荣誉校长汤姆‧豪尔曼（Thomas Hallman）博士也亲自到现场体验了修炼法轮功的美好。他曾说：“这是我第一次体验法轮功，我非常有兴趣继续深入学习和了解法轮功。”