PureInsight | January 7, 2002
I am now not simply an artist who makes marks on paper for others to see and offer praise, to feed a hunger inside for attention. Those superficial feelings don't interest me anymore, for showing off and selfishness are products of a heart and society full of wickedness, betrayal, and jealousy. The true art, in my opinion, is not the marks on
paper one can see with the eyes, but the things which one cannot see with flesh eyes. These surpass any marks on paper. Ever since I began to draw, I have searched for new combinations, new deviations in order to create something new and profound. Eventually, my entire mindset shifted to one that deviated from the conventional, deviated from what was proper and deviated from reality in general. After a while, I deviated from morality, deviated from good taste and deviated from honesty. I thought the purpose of life was to deviate, to expand upon and rearrange what was here already. I even aimed to find salvation in the constant deviation. However, I had reached a dead end. Although I thought I was exploring the cultivation of energy, I was merely dabbling in low-level phenomena, wallowing around in the mud so to speak. I was still controlled by the notions that had governed my life and mind since I was conceived. I thought I was breaking free, but in actuality I see that I was only breaking. I had a sense of the universe, something beyond ordinary people, but quite a few wrong deeds, selfishness and self-damaging actions had impaired my judgment. Then I picked up a book in a store, seemingly a coincidence. However, my life changed at that moment. Of all the books I'd read in the past, this one was different. The book is called Falun Gong. I saw that it spoke in detail about the third eye, cultivating virtue and other matters related to the cultivation of righteous energy. I put the book down and walked around the store, but after a few minutes I found myself looking at it again. What was so special about this book?
I saw a Chinese man in the illustrations in the book, performing some simple looking physical movements. This confounded me. I wondered, "How can doing these movements bring this man such profound knowledge?" I went home and printed the exercises from the internet (everything is available there for free), and went into my bedroom to try it out. I felt quite good afterward. I practiced the following few days. During that time I felt something from the pit of my stomach, extending upward through my torso into my head, then out of the middle of my forehead. It was twisting around, and felt quite comfortable. It felt this way all the time, whether I was practicing the exercises or watching television. My foot had been hurting for a few years. I had been limping on it. My foot became very numb and tingly during the exercises and stopped hurting like it used to. Now my body feels lighter and lighter and I don't limp anymore. I can't adequately explain the rest of the changes to my mind and body. There are countless things that I know, have seen and have tangibly experienced and even a greater set of countless things which I do not yet know. Now I know that the purpose of life is not to deviate, but instead, go back to the origin, the true self. The artwork I now focus on is not putting marks on paper, but getting rid of negative attachments, purifying and stabilizing my mind and perfecting myself, effectively removing the marks that had earlier scarred me so that I can return to the pure and holy place from which I fell. Zhen-Shan-Ren (Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance) are the keys to unlocking a
person's heart, mind, soul, and entire universe.
This is my personal understanding from my personal experience.
