Some Understandings on Art

By Li Ping, a Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net) Master said,

"In cultivation, you're supposed to rectify yourselves by cultivating away everything that's not good. You should be a good person wherever you are. So in the field of the arts you should be a good person as well, and in your artwork you should display what's beautiful, what's upright, what's pure, what's good, and what's bright and positive." ("Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art")

In the last few years, I developed some understanding on what Master spoke about. I was an art teacher for over 30 years. As impressionism, abstractionism, and other revolting styles dominate the art circle, I have been obligated to teach them to my students. What are good pieces of art? No one seems to know. Some artists only pursue the fervor of putting paint on the canvas. They use light, color, and skills to express their feelings, and consider traditional Realism too rigid. Since I began practicing Falun Gong in 1998, I gradually realized that art pieces I had regarded as good were often deviated. However, I could not explain why it was bad to rely on fervor to paint. As I cultivated more, I realized that emotions also needed to be eliminated during cultivation. The stronger the fervor, the more one's demon nature is demonstrated, and the more likely one is taken advantage of by the demons. When painting, I began to control my moods. I had a peaceful and rational mind when painting, and the artwork itself showed both the overall situation and details. When teaching students, although the textbooks spoke highly of Picasso and Van Gogh, I presented my criticism and passed it on to the students. These were things that I had not figured out for decades; it was Dafa that awakened me and made everything clear. The class "Art Appreciation," which was always hard for students to understand and was also when students became loud and disruptive, turned into a quiet, well-liked class.

While assimilating to the universal characteristics of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance in my cultivation, my painting skills also improved. Because my mind was elevated, when I paint, I see pure objects in other dimensions. Because thoughts in a higher realm are composed of high-realm matter and are pure, the artwork is also wonderful, showing people the inner meanings of the piece and benefits them. Even the subjects of my paintings have changed. I used to paint people, but now I don't want to paint ordinary people any more. When I paint people, I see black smoke coming from the top of their heads. Of course that is karma. It makes me very uncomfortable. Such paintings would also be harmful when hung on a wall.

On the other hand, when I paint images of the heavenly paradise, such as celestial maidens spreading flowers, I feel very light-hearted and joyful. Sometimes I even feel that I am painting in another dimension.

As my xinxing elevates and my understanding on the Fa principles develops, my art also improves. As Master said,

"When you are able to create good things, it is because you are a good person or because you have done something good. Conversely, only when gods see that you are a good person will they grant you wisdom and allow you to create things." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")

When I was illegally detained, I shared my understanding on the poem "Plum Blossoms" in Hongyin II with a fellow practitioner. I wanted to paint plum blossoms to encourage other practitioners and myself to be diligent, however, I didn't know how to paint them. Later, when I held the wheel doing the second exercise, I saw many gorgeous pink and white plum blossoms right in front of my eyes.

During the last few years, I almost stopped painting. My family members wondered if I still knew how to paint. I picked up a paint brush and spent from 3 to 8 p.m. finishing five paintings of peony flowers. Everyone said they were outstanding.

Nowadays the textbooks are still corrupt. People who were arranged by the old forces to destroy mankind's art, such as Van Gogh and Picasso, can be found everywhere. Even children's paintings are mostly demonic in nature. I know we Dafa disciples have a lot of responsibility to create good art pieces for the world's people, negate the old forces' arrangements, and save sentient beings. This is our mission as Dafa disciples who are artists. At the same time, we will rectify ourselves to meet Dafa's standards, and to eliminate the pollution of the deviated culture.

Clarifying the facts and saving sentient beings also include negating the old forces' pollution in children's art education. Today's art education for children encourages children to paint and draw without any regard to reality. The educators call this "developing children's imagination," while neglecting education on moral values. Children can't even draw basic shapes. What can they imagine? This kind of art education leads them down a deviant path.

I am retired. Some people came to me and asked me to tutor their children on art. I realized that this was an opportunity to clarify the facts. The children are generally in kindergarten or elementary school. When they first began studying with me, they had a lot of conflicts between one another. They didn't want others to use their personal things, cursed others, and didn't want to work hard. I told them to quietly say to themselves, "Falun Dafa is great. Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance is great." I also told them that they could paint well only if they were able to be good people, and that they could only grasp the basic skills if they were diligent. I began teaching them how to appreciate art and the basic skills. As I taught them how to draw still objects, I also experimented with writing my own textbook. During this process, the children were changing. They became willing to help others and only needed a break once every two hours. They stopped cursing at each other. They also became more humble and less interested in competing with others. When we showed their paintings, their family members and other fellow students all wanted the paintings. Some people even wanted to buy them. The children's xinxing improved, and they were willing to give their paintings away to others. The kind-hearted children also painted images with kindness. Pure and peaceful energy was emitted. Others around them were also affected. I began clarifying the facts to the children's parents, too, so that they could withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party.

Some young practitioners in high school who were preparing for becoming art majors in college often didn't study the Fa because of busy schoolwork. Some completely gave up on cultivation and were only interested in having fun. When I tutored them in painting, we shared our understandings. I told them, "Your slacking off was a result of the old forces' arrangement. They kept you from studying the Fa or doing the three things, hoping to drag you down and destroy you. This was because the old forces' arrangement was to destroy all sentient beings. You must deny them and send righteous thoughts to clear them away. First, you must study the Fa well. Dafa will give you wisdom. Studying the Fa won't negatively affect your coursework. Instead, it will improve your performance in school." I gave them examples from my cultivation and the Fa principles I enlightened to, encouraging them to hand-copy the Fa and giving them notebooks on which to copy the Fa. Now some young practitioners have finished copying Zhuan Falun. Through our brief tutoring sessions, they also made significant progress on painting. The change was amazing.

These young practitioners' parents are mostly practitioners, too. On the issue of their children's education, they often had many human attachments and notions. They wanted the child to attend this school or that school. As a cultivator, we should meet the requirements for a cultivator and let go of all human attachments. Students should work hard, and their parents should help to the extent they can. In terms of which school they ended up attending, Master has already arranged the best for them, as explained very clearly in Zhuan Falun.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/7/15/158886.html

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