(Clearwisdom.net) Those who have seen Shen Yun Performing Arts have been amazed by the pure compassion and beauty of classical Chinese culture. The show fully illustrates the spiritual inner meaning of an ancient, divinely-inspire culture. Beyond the visual and musical beauty, the audience feels that their souls have been purified.
Every time I watch Shen Yun Performing Arts, I am stunned by the beauty and am full of gratitude. Scenes from the history of a divinely-inspired culture are shown again, and the deities' clothes are splendid. This has given me much inspiration as a fashion designer. Beautiful clothes and accessories sometimes also appear in my mind. I can feel the artistic beauty and inner meaning conveyed by Shen Yun. This has restored my concept of aesthetics and established a new way of evaluating things for me. Shen Yun's costumes and accessories are exquisite and gorgeous. The audience is visually entertained and mentally uplifted.
I also received professional training in the arts. My pleasant work environment is the envy of my former classmates and colleagues, however that seems so trivial when compared with what we are trying to achieve. When watching Shen Yun, I sometimes even forget that I am also in the field of fashion design.
In "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art," Master said,
"Fine art is very important to mankind. Like other forms of human culture, it can play a guiding role with respect to people's concepts in human society, influencing mankind's aesthetic values. The concepts of 'what is aesthetic' and 'what is the appropriate sense of beauty that people should have' are closely related to mankind's moral foundation and standards. When people find unaesthetic things aesthetic, then people's moral values are gone."
That was the first time I realized the close relationship between art and morality. Master's lectures rectified many of my mistaken concepts.
NTDTV hosted the first Global Han Couture Design Competition in 2008. Because I was unable to recognize its importance from the Fa's perspective and my role as a Dafa disciple and fashion designer, I missed the opportunity.
When the second Global Han Couture Design Competition was held in 2009, I had a strong wish to participate, although I still didn't understand its importance. I was impatient and anxious for results, which was reflected in my work. I kept making mistakes and needed to go back to redo the stitching. In my heart however, I didn't want to acknowledge my attachments and just wanted to get by. This made the situation even worse. One dress would take several days. In Han couture, collars and sleeves are particularly important. In ancient times, people embroidered elaborate patterns on collars and sleeves, with colors that were complementary to the dress. When I was making a dress, I had to do the collars several times, and could not find a color that worked well. My mind was not calm, and I thought about giving up.
As I shared with another practitioner who was also participating in the competition, she gave me a lot to think about. She said she was also a reporter and was extremely busy. She needed to find time to work on the costumes. When she was making a sash, it took a long time. At first she used a sewing machine, but later she found that it didn't look good, so she hand-sewed it. As she did so with a calm mind, the sash was sewn to perfection. She said although it was only an accessory, it reflected our state of mind. We needed to be responsible in everything we do. We cannot take shortcuts. This is also a "report card" we submit back to Master. Through our sharing, I realized that we were different from everyday people, and everything we do has a reason. Even small things have elements of showing respect to Master and the Fa. Although some things seem unrelated to cultivation, they reflect a cultivator's state of mind. Any attachment we show through the process is a reflection of our lack of a sense of responsibility.
I learned that every stitch required patience and care. If it was not smooth or right, I needed to redo it. My mind needed to be calm, just like in cultivation. I needed to remove every attachment that appeared. After I adjusted my mindset, I paid careful attention to every piece of clothing I was working on. I found that the process of eliminating my anxiety and pursuit was a part of my cultivation. I decided to name my work, "The Grace of Old Times," hoping my work could indeed demonstrate the inner meaning of divinely-inspired clothing, and aid in mankind's return to pure kindness and beauty. This was my wish. Looking back, I was truly able to appreciate Master's plans. Step by step, he guided me to the righteous path of cultivation and rectified the deviated factors in me, so that I could become purer and purer.
When I looked again at the poster for the competition, I read its goals, "Through the characteristics of clothing from the Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties, and using Han couture's classical shape, style, structure, and aesthetics in choosing material, pattern, and accessories, the contestants should showcase dignity, grace, women's gentle beauty, and men's virility. It should reflect the spiritual realm of people in classical times and culture."
In the mysterious yet formidable land of China, our ancestors sought harmony with the heavens. This divinely-inspired culture had permeated throughout the dynasties and shown in aesthetics, ethics, values, the arts, and many other fields. Its impact was both broad and deep.
In "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art," Master said,
"Of course, modern society's arts aren't limited to paintings, drawings, and sculptures--there are also crafts, advertisements, fashion, theatre, television and movie production, product design, etc. There are a plethora of professions related to the arts; in other words, they are all related to fine art. But no matter what profession it is, if the artist himself establishes an upright foundation, then no matter what works he creates, they'll all be infused with upright elements, and they'll all be wonderful, good, and will benefit people. That's for sure. Generally speaking, this is what I've seen with mankind's arts."
My understanding is that clothing is also a part of the divinely-inspired culture and art. Different styles can show different personalities and characters. The four essentials for living are clothing, food, housing, and transportation. Clothes are quite important since they are listed first. I realized that I could no longer procrastinate. As a Dafa practitioner in the field of fashion design, I needed to rectify myself and walk well on my path of validating the Fa. This was a great honor and opportunity that I could not miss.
In "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting on Writing Music," Master said,
"But whatever age it was, you can draw upon [things from those ages] in your creation of performing arts. However, you need to make sure it integrates the traits of the culture that Dafa itself is to give to mankind, blazing a righteous path that Dafa disciples started and leaving it to mankind. It's not as though you should copy everything from the Tang times alone. You can draw upon the culture that the ancients of the Tang Dynasty or whatever dynasty had, and as for music, you can make its mood and flair your keynote, and create things that make the most of the characteristics of the Chinese people."
I understood that as a designer, I also could not just copy things. I am not simply imitating designs from ancient times, but instead restoring the glory of traditional couture through my understanding of the inner meaning of the Han couture.
In the past, I was always hesitant. Although I knew I needed to do well the three things, after I read Master's lectures, I became clearer. I knew some things could only be done well by Dafa disciples. Only we can be responsible for the renaissance of the classical culture. All of the Dafa disciples with technical or artistic skills must walk a path of their own in validating the Fa, while rectifying themselves. Our cosmic system has close connections with everything we have learned and done. The return of mankind's classical culture is also left for the future as a reference.
I have increasingly realized that as a Dafa disciple, I shoulder responsibilities. This is a great honor. What will we leave for mankind after the Fa rectifies the cosmos? This is our responsibility as Dafa disciples. As we rectify ourselves, we also should leave the most upright culture and arts for the future. Therefore, participating in the nine NTDTV competitions and promoting classical Chinese culture are also a part of our path of Fa-validation.
