Degenerate Nude Art

[PureInsight.org] Teacher talked about nudity in the Ninth Lecture of the Guangzhou audio Fa Lecture. Teacher said that such art is fine for Westerners, but he does not think that the Chinese should paint nude people.

In the past, I didn't quite understand what Teacher implied. I asked myself, why are there two different standards, one standard for Westerners and another for the Chinese? Recently I gained a new understanding after I studied "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference."

Teacher said, "[…] 'a dynasty's emperor has that dynasty's courtiers,' there are also, 'a dynasty's sovereign being has that dynasty's people,' 'a dynasty's culture...,' 'a dynasty's dress...'" (From "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference" in Guiding the Voyage.)

Teacher also said, "In every period of history, beings from different paradises have come to the land of China to establish their relationship, and they've each represented their own cosmic system."

Teacher said, "Then, over time, the number of people would have outgrown the capacity of this land of China. So after the relationship was established, people reincarnated in other regions in their next lives."

Teacher said, "I've said that no country in this world exists by chance—they all exist with a meaning and a purpose."

I finally realized that each country's culture corresponds to a cosmic system.

I understand that gods created every region's culture on earth. Each culture corresponds to a different cosmic system. What we call art is actually a way to praise gods and for mankind to pay respect to gods. The cosmic systems that correspond to the Western world, some celestial beings are nude. It is just how it is done in those cosmic systems. For example, there are nude angels and half-naked goddesses in ancient churches of the West. The ancient Western artists painted these nude and half-naked gods based on their celestial visions. Western people of ancient times painted and looked at these paintings, depicting nude celestial beings, in awe and with respect. Later on the so-called "artists" have become no more than artisans defined by their lower morality levels. Because of their debauched values, artists of later times did not have celestial visions. Although they could not see gods, they continued to paint. What was their subject? They painted naked human bodies instead. This is a sign of their degeneracy. It is just like what Teacher said in Zhuan Falun:

"Because of a limited xinxing level and because he has not relinquished everyday people's desires and lust, that is where his xinxing yardstick is, and it is bound to be evil if used." (From "Double Cultivation of a Man and Woman" in Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun.)

The so-called "nude art," created during the Renaissance, is a product of degenerate values. With the development of nude art, mankind's moral concepts continued to decline. The "nude art" advocates the beauty of the human body and liberation of human nature. But it is, in reality, promoting worldly desire.

Mankind's fashion was also negatively impacted. Modern people's fashion promotes bare skin. In ancient times, women in Western and Eastern societies wore long skirts and showed very little skin. But today's women wear short and often tiny little pants and miniskirts in public. Everyone can ogle them. Women even wear bikinis outside their bedrooms. This degenerate social phenomenon has its origin in "nude art." Advertisements often feature "nude art" everywhere, including on Internet. Some call "nude art" by its rightful name: pornography.

A typical ancient Chinese woman would feel deep shame and rage if a man other than her husband saw her bare feet. Today's women are comfortable with baring just about every inch of their skin. Because of the influence from the Western culture and the Chinese Communist Party's destruction of the Chinese traditional culture, the morality of today's Chinese people has been sliding down at an accelerated rate. They exhibit shocking displays in terms of nudity. The Chinese Communist Party criticizes "the rites of the feudal system." But, let truth be told, Chinese traditional rites was fashioned by saints for the Chinese people. It was meant to preserve morality and curb worldly desires. The traditional Chinese rites in everyday people's society can be compared to the precepts in Buddhism. Those rites are codes of conduct. If people followed those codes of conduct, they would be less likely to violate or abandon morality. Rites are written as 禮教 in Chinese where 教 means "doctrine," that can be exemplified by the saints' doctrines or the Fa of mind cultivation, which are the fundamentals to preserve morality. Ancient rites have been an integral part of Chinese culture and preserved the morality of the Chinese people. Later, with the decline of social morals, people no longer behaved according to the rites, or the Fa of mind cultivation. Hence, the rites have become no more than decorative conduct.

There was no such a thing as "nude art" in traditional Chinese culture. The Ancient Chinese's costumes were the same as those in their corresponding cosmic systems. Ancient Chinese women's costumes were in the same style as the flying goddesses in frescoes in the Dunhuang caves of Gansu Province. Therefore, it does not make sense to compare Western nude art with traditional Chinese art. It would not be esthetic nor look good. It would be like creating a horse with a pair of ox horns on its head.

I don't think there will be "nude art" in the future human society, not even in Western society. I don't think it will be proper in any future society.

Teacher said, "As for artwork, nobody can tell whether it is genuine art or something else. There were no such things in our ancient Chinese traditional arts. The traditions of our Chinese nationality were not invented or created by any one person. In addressing prehistoric culture, I mentioned that everything has its origin." (From "A Clear and Clean Mind" in Lecture Nine of Zhuan Falun.)

The advent of nude portraits in the ancient Western world may have been caused by degenerate high-level beings who deviated from the Fa. Artists who have a good foundation would respect nude angels and goddesses when they see them in their celestial visions. Ordinary people will not look at nude portraits of angels and goddesses with a respectful heart. It is because ordinary people will think in ordinary ways and these thoughts are offensive to those naked angels and goddesses. In my humble opinion, it is just like "double cultivation of a man and woman."

Teacher said, "[…] when casually promoted at the low level, this is teaching an evil practice." (From "Double Cultivation of a Man and Woman" in Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun.)

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2001/8/7/11199.html