What Religion Is Shen Yun?

Shen Yun is a faith-based performing arts company guided by the spiritual teachings of Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong). 

Shen Yun performances also draw upon China’s Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and other cultural traditions, including contemporary stories about people of faith facing persecution in China today.

Our artists themselves are also spiritual seekers on a shared journey. They practice Falun Dafa's meditation exercises together, study teachings together, and strive to live by the discipline's principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. Perfomers frequently talk about how cultivating the heart is the way to create art that is truly sublime.

At the heart of Shen Yun's shows is classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance styles, and story-based dances, with orchestral accompaniment, solo performers, and animated backdrops. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive authentic, traditional culture. As such, the stories presented in a Shen Yun performance are drawn from China’s five thousand years of culture and often include spiritually uplifting messages.

Audience members often cite in their reviews the spiritual character of the performance, and of traditional Chinese culture in general, as being particularly refreshing. A great example of this would be a Shen Yun dance that features an adventure from Journey to the West, a classic novel about a Buddhist monk on a quest to obtain sacred scriptures. Another might be a dance drama depicting the famous poet Li Bai miraculously encountering heavenly fairies deep in the mountains.

Traditional Chinese culture is inseparable from its spiritual heritage. There is a whole pantheon of divine beings, spiritual cultivators, and heavenly themes that show up throughout Chinese history and mythology, and they have shaped the substance of this culture over thousands of years. 

And yet, while Shen Yun is a religous organization, the performance does not seek to convert anyone, but rather spark goodness in people's hearts, inspiring the audience with beauty and hope.