PureInsight | April 7, 2009
[PureInsight.org] My personality is such that I don’t like traveling. I also didn’t get any formal art training. I’m not sure why I decided to study watercolor landscape painting. At the time when I was learning, I used paper that was made in France and professional pigments imported from Holland. The pigments were particularly transparent and delicate. With the addition of water, the colors were applied to the drawing. Different colors were mixed and formed into a rich gradient. And finally, the sweet, charming and pleasing works of art were created with a special Chinese flavor.
Unexpectedly, twenty years later, due to the global economic depression, in order to save money, people cut down on expenses related to their spiritual enjoyment first. Some famous manufacturers of specialized pigments went bankrupt due to demand for the pigments dropping dramatically. The top grade pigments require much effort and time-consuming, careful grinding. Now nobody wants to do that. However, the common cheap pigments for students can’t produce satisfactory effects. No matter how you mix those colors, the colors still look turbid and not clear enough. The former fantasy colors are now all gone.
I can’t imagine what the world would be like without colors. Color and the human living environment are closely linked together. From the landscapes in nature to various buildings, to birds, flowers and fruits, even tiny things like ants and worms, paper and pens, nothing can be separated from color. Ever since the ancient Eight Diagrams, Yin and Yang, the Chinese nation had strived for harmony between heaven and man. For example, in Chinese literature, the antithesis reflects it. Of course, the use of color is not just monochrome.
As our ancestors gained experience, the effects of the color contrasts, complementarity, backgrounds, and highlights have gradually had a profound impact in various areas. Therefore, unconsciously and naturally, artists use color to express their feelings and to describe their own impressions. For example, the color green symbolizes peace; the colors yellow and orange represent coziness; the color red gives a warm, dominant and energetic feeling; the colors blue and gray reflect a peaceful mind. Colors represent the conjunction of internal emotions and external scenery because “Art is the voice of the heart!” Undoubtedly, we all enjoy the various colors in our lives. Moreover, we enjoy even more the colorful world that artists create!
All this leads me to think of the Divine Performing Arts (Shen Yun) dance company, which has emerged all of a sudden in the past few years. Every year on its global tour, all the audiences talk highly of it. They are overwhelmed with admiration for the beauty of the show. Almost everyone says they can’t find an adjective to describe the beauty of the show or to describe their feelings upon seeing it. The arrangements of the colors and costumes especially complement each other. The amazing and beautiful backdrops are out of this world.
From the perspective of the Fa principles, we all understand that the lower the level a dimension is, the heavier is the matter the beings carry, which is worse. This is because the origin of the being is more buried. Thus, the lower the level a dimension is, the more turbid and coarse the colors are. Cultivation involves returning to the origin by going through hardships and discarding all attachments.
The very first requirement for a dancer of Chinese classical dance is to purify their mind and improve their morality. Then, by practicing hard, they can gradually achieve the state of not being impacted by external factors and not being confused by the outside world. Only in this state can they concentrate to manifest the inner meanings and the implications of the dances.
The audiences’ eyes are filled by the panorama of different colorful costumes in the Divine Performing Arts show. That’s because the performance showcases the ancient culture inherited from many dynasties in the land of China. It is the cultural quintessence bestowed by the gods to humankind. The show has developed a unique color matching system with the use of multivariant colors. As a result, it produces a rich and delicate gradient of colors. This pioneering work breaks through existing rules about the use of color and the traditional rigid aesthetic teaching philosophy. It also creates a new and long-term way of thinking for people engaged in literature and art and inspires people working in the arts.
Although the costumes and colors are made from ordinary materials using everyday tools, once put on by a dancer whose mind has been purified and whose xinxing has improved, I believe his/her high moral integrity and pure state of mind will change the colors to become uncommon and extraordinary. The fine elements formed in cultivation will manifest to the surface dimensions immediately. After the mind and body are purified, the pure and transparent colors will flow. When the origin of a life awakens, kindness and exquisiteness are expressed. Maybe after the clothes are taken off, the colors are still ordinary colors in the human world, however, once it is put on again by the dancer, it will manifest the divine colors from the high level realms again. While last year’s colors for the costumes and backdrops were rich, elegant and bright, this year’s colors are profound, solemn and noble. These differences manifest the “harmony between heaven and man” after the dancers have improved their morality. They also express a silent wisdom.
The exquisite colors coming from heaven are the rare colors in this human world after harmony between heaven and man is manifested. These colors are fine and transparent, rich and varying, bright, shining and full of Chinese flavor… This phenomenon can’t be described by any words in today’s world! If you’re curious, please hurry to watch the Divine Performing Arts show, then you will know that I am not lying!
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2009/2/17/57868.html
