My Cultivation Experience

Hi, I'm a Canadian practitioner who obtained the Fa in New York City. I have been practicing for over a year and a half. I want to share with you my personal understandings and experience of the events that occurred during the month of October of 2002 in Los Cabos, Mexico. During the Fa Hui (Falun Dafa experience sharing conference) in Washington DC I learned about preparation for the upcoming Mexico Fa Hui. I didn't hesitate to participate in it for Master had arranged that I learn Spanish from prior trips in Latin America. From this trip I learned that Mexico was going to host the APEC meetings (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation) where 21 heads of state were going to gather, including China. These meetings were three months ahead and I felt the urgency to prepare properly for this precious opportunity. I knew it was a precious opportunity because before I engaged in this project I asked myself: "What does the Fa require of me at this moment"? And this helped me to find out if the project was relevant to the Fa Rectification period.

As soon as I could, I freed up time and decided to drive down to Los Cabos, 4000 miles away, knowing that having a vehicle would be a very useful tool. So I started on this journey by myself across the country struggling against the demons of sleep that were constantly interfering with me at all hours of the day and night to prevent me from progressing. I also experienced intense pain in my right leg, the one pressing on the accelerator, pains that I had to eliminate if I was going to reach my destination. Along the way I stopped in a few cities where I met practitioners, I would inform them about the project and we would share understandings. Everyone was very busy preparing for the events surrounding the evil head's visit to Chicago and Houston. I finally made it to the west coast where once again practitioners were expecting me and greeted me with open doors and open hearts. Two practitioners responded to the invitation to join me in the early phase of the Los Cabos project, an 81-year-old Chinese practitioner and another who flew in from the east coast of Canada. We were three and set out loaded with Hongfa materials and food to last us for a while.

Our main objectives were to meet government officials and local people to let them know why we were coming to Los Cabos and what Falun Dafa was all about but it was also to establish a righteous field in order to eliminate the evils interference. We were determined to spread the goodness of Dafa and dissolve the old forces' arrangements. We stopped to Hongfa in a city called Mexicali, which had a Chinese community that had been established in the 1900's. The visit was a mostly positive experience where they were grateful to receive the information though some refused the material, showing us that the propaganda had made it up to this confined community. On another occasion we met Chinese people in a gas station who had recently arrived from Mainland China. They were so surprised to see us but eager to know the truth about Falun Gong, "Quick, quick they said, tell us more". We realized our mission was sacred and important. Nonetheless during the time we were on the road we were able to help sentient beings to see thru the lies and we continued our journey along treacherous and windy roads surrounded by dry, barren lunar landscapes.

We arrived in Los Cabos, a municipality made up of two cities, San Jose and San Lucas. A 20-mile strip of beach with luxury hotels separates these two cities. This is where the events would take place and where most of the delegations were going to stay. We decided to create a base in San Lucas, which was the busier of the two cities. We rented three adjacent apartment units, anticipating a growing number of practitioners, and got the telephone line hooked up as well as the Internet to insure proper communication with the rest of the practitioners. We then set out to find locations to establish practice sites. By doing so we met the director of culture of the municipality, he gave us valuable information on the area and possible locations for the sites. His heart was moved by our mission and wanted to help us right away. His kind heart made it possible for us to establish 2 sites and have an interview with the local radio station, which helped us to reach a large number of people. We started the practice at 6:30 pm every evening and invited everyone we encountered to join and learn the exercises. Children playing nearby quickly got interested and became the first students. Regularly they came after school and soon their parents and relatives got curious about their new after school activity and joined the practice. Slowly people from all walks of life were practicing, from students to lawyers and housewives to hotel managers and physical trainers. We made China Falun Gong accessible to the new students, which introduced them to the principles. The more practitioners arrived the more the popularity of the practice grew. The Mexican people's hearts are pure and many embraced the Fa rapidly, recognizing the importance of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, insuring them a bright future.

As we were getting closer to the events the quiet towns grew busier and busier with more and more foreigners. It was time to start the government work and we found out that the state offices were situated in a town three hours' drive from Los Cabos. In a day we got packages translated and ready as well as lotus flowers folded, and the next day we drove to the government building where the offices were located. However, none of us thought of calling and that day the ministers and deputies were all out of town in a general meeting in another town too far north to go. Still we didn't miss the chance to clarify the truth to the secretaries and other personnel on the premises which all received happily the information.

We went a second time in a better-prepared way, split up into three pairs. We decided to have two practitioners demonstrate the exercises in front of the building while the other four of us were inside. We also emphasized the sending forth of righteous thoughts by all including the person not speaking while clarifying the truth to officials. This time we experienced success and met many deputies and high-level officials. Most of them were in their offices and agreed to see us right away. The exchanges were quite positive and a few of them had already heard about Falun Gong from the practitioners' truth clarifying work in Mexico City, we truly felt that we were growing as one body. All guaranteed us that Mexico was a free country and supported human rights.

The team of practitioners in Los Cabos grew more each day and we were now enough to take on different projects so it was time to have an official press conference even though none of us present had any experience in preparing one. It was necessary to find a proper location and a few options were available, we all had human notions concerning this issue that it should be nice, it should be cheap, it should be outside or inside, it should be in a governmental building etc. But we were determined to find the right place despite the variety of opinions. After verifying a few of those options that turned out impractical or left us dissatisfied, we showed up at the counter of the Tropicana Inn hotel. A beautiful, well known centrally located hotel. The clerk was sensitive to our mission and our requests but the manager wasn't present and she told us to come again later. As we were walking out the manager came in and became very interested in what we had to tell him, listening attentively, to the background of the practice and its persecution that we described. His heart opened, and despite all the extra pressures the APEC events gave him, he offered us the hotel's dining room for the morning of our press conference, free of charge. With the close support of practitioners abroad we prepared our topics and our lotus flowers and had more materials translated for the reporters. We sent out our media advisory to all of the local and national media we could find. The APEC events were going to open the following day and we wanted to be sure that everyone understood the truth about Falun Dafa. Our lack of media experience did not matter one bit to the 6 or 7 reporters there, as we clearly expressed our thoughts about the practice, the persecution, and our concerns about the presence of the head agent of evil in their tranquil village. The next day front-page articles came out in the newspapers and the truth was made known to the local population in a favorable and unambiguous way.

By the time of the opening ceremony of the APEC meetings, a lot of questions still had to be answered. Like could we demonstrate in the streets, hang banners, do the exercises in public, pass out flyers in groups and did we need to apply for permits, etc? Another issue concerned the airport. A large number of practitioners had arrived and all were experiencing interference at the airport. Most were pulled out of the waiting line before passing customs and were interrogated thoroughly in a separate room. Some were aware that their names showed up on the computer, some were given limited visas of just a few days and almost all had their passport taken away and photocopied before its return. This situation needed clarification. Four practitioners decided to go and meet with the immigration officials. At first the officials told them that by Mexican law a foreigner cannot display banners or pass out flyers and these actions could lead to deportation, that only Mexican citizens have this right. They were told that photocopies of passports were taken to be able to identify who were the Falun Gong practitioners in case somebody would impersonate us to perform wrongdoings and that all these measures were due to the increased security. The overall feeling was that they did not know who we were and had limited and negative ideas, so for three hours the four practitioners clarified the truth to them thoroughly, until their hearts opened and felt the goodness of Dafa. We had nothing to hide and openly invited them to come see for themselves at the apartment where we stayed in San Lucas, an invitation that they accepted.

At this point Falun Gong was a topic that raised many eyebrows throughout the local and visiting communities, so when the word got out about this open invitation, it reached all levels of authority, and on that morning there showed up not one but 5 high-level officials, representing the government, public security, army, immigration and APEC organization. The Buddhas, Gods and Daos, gathered in this small room, were absorbed in learning the truth as we showed them the history of Falun Dafa VCD. They truly recognized the goodness of Dafa and their compassion emerged as we continued to discuss the details of this historic event. For this occasion, and for us only, they were going to make an exception to the law and let us display banners, pass out flyers and demonstrate peacefully in certain specific areas. For security reasons the hotel zone was restricted but we were permitted to be along the highway in front of a big yellow monument where all the delegations had to drive by in order to go back and forth to the airport. In that meeting alone we were able to address all our questions and clarify our action plan for the week of the APEC events with the highest authorities' approval. We agreed to their requests and they approved our plan, telling us that Mexico is a free country and would not tolerate any human rights violations. We all shook hands and agreed to maintain close communication between us for the days to come.

The next day our public appearance in one of the two locations that we had agreed upon did not go without notice. Reporters by the busloads stopped by in the morning to take pictures of the bright yellow t-shirts and colorful banners and find out more about why we had traveled so far away to be in this area. Two more press conferences were organized to answer these questions and to introduce them to practitioners who had experienced the persecution first-hand. More articles came out and now we were on the international news.

The APEC forum was officially opened, and the main event would be the meeting of 21 heads of state, held during the final two days. Practitioners who had been clarifying the truth in Houston during the chief agent of evil's visit, and other practitioners from all over the world, were coming to SFRT during this important meeting.

The practitioners needed a place to stay and to SFRT. All of the hotels surrounding the evil head were closed to the public, so it was important to figure out a different arrangement and through this process we found Master's arrangement. We were able to book three condominiums large enough to fit everybody, situated a mile away form the chief agent of evil's hotel and at a reasonable price. I came to understand the fact that when we act as one body and are within the Fa, the surface world melts to fulfill Master's arrangement. We only need to keep our righteous hearts and all that we seek to do will be done in ways that we don't really expect.

The time between the opening and the leaders' meeting went relatively smoothly. Practitioners were also based in the other city, San Jose. We, as one body, were taking care of the daily practice sites, SFRT every hour, studying the Fa, passing out flyers in the streets, clarifying the truth to local authorities and everyday people, holding banners in strategic locations, and attending to incoming practitioners. However, the day of the chief agent of evil's arrival, a strong change in the weather happened. In the month I spent there, not a cloud came into sight, but all of a sudden a thunderstorm watch was in effect, gray clouds came in and the ocean swells grew high. According to the weather forecast, this thunderstorm was heading straight for Los Cabos. We knew "it" was close, so we put much more effort into SFRT.

The morning delegations were expected to arrive practitioners woke up early and headed to the prescribed meeting place, a huge yellow monument, to hold their banners and SFRT. The area was heavily guarded, and we started to see the motorcades arriving. After a few motorcades had passed by, suddenly three large buses pulled up in front of our banners, blocking our view of the delegations. We were surprised because we had been instructed to stand on a strip of grass, and there was really no place to park. The buses didn't move for a while and we realized that the chief agent of evil's delegation had passed by. This incident showed us that the local authorities were cooperating with the evil forces.

After this incident, we went to see the authorities we had been speaking with to ask them what had happened. We had complied with all of their requests. The official we spoke with seemed to be very surprised and uncomfortable with what had happened. He told us he would go and investigate it with his superiors. Then he returned and told us that the orders had come from higher up and felt deeply sorry.

During the course of the leaders meeting this incident involving buses happened every time the chief agent of evil was about to see us but practitioners kept calm and preserved their mighty virtue by losing the attachment of being seen by the chief agent of evil and focused instead on sending forth righteous thoughts. This little trick of theirs, on the other hand, exposed clearly the fear of the chief agent of evil and got the media's attention right away. On the last day, the sun was shining brightly as the thunderstorm had deviated from our strong righteous thoughts. At the yellow monument we stood majestically, exchanging hand gestures with the delegations in a supporting way as they drove by, all were able to see us perfectly including the chief agent of evil. The authorities felt unrighteous to cooperate with them anymore. We had dissolved the evil's interference.

We had learned a lot from past events in Germany, Russia and Iceland and we were decided not to repeat errors and improve our virtue. Keeping calm in the midst of difficult situations helped tremendously to identify the different types of interference we experienced, some was coming undoubtedly from the old forces but also some came from our own minds. Acting as one body is fundamental if we are going to participate effectively in Fa-rectification. Please note that this experience sharing covers only my personal understandings of the events in Los Cabos.