8.3.3.2.2. Careful control of your image (Orange Papers, 小心控制你的形象, 橙色文件)
The cult leader is a master at controlling how people view them.
One aspect of that, is after reaching a certain critical mass of mindless followers, to limit your public appearances to situations in which you have the most control, and notably being surrounded only by your believers.
Because of course: you are human, not a God, and you are going to fuck up from time to time, so why take any risks now that you are already established?
Li Hongzhi (李洪志, LHZ, Falun Gong prophet) does not announce where he is going for the most part, even though he is followed by millions: he just shows up unannounced, and local believers whisper to one another in short advance and come to see him when possible.
As a result, there are almost no recordings of Li Hongzhi except from the early days when he actually had to go out and get new believers hooked himself.
What if he (brain-)farted during a presentation, like we all do from time to time? Don’t want recordings of that, do we? Canonical Falun Gong texts (法轮功的经典著作) related to those private presentations is only published after careful review of course.