(Clearwisdom.net) The successful performances by Divine Performing Arts have become very popular around the world and have moved the hearts of the Chinese people. Every practitioner feels very proud of this. Teacher said,
"What we wish to do is to, through this medium, display Dafa disciples' demeanor, do away with the lies and slander that the wicked Party has instilled in people, and at the same time save all beings and clarify the facts. " ("Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference ")
"It's performing arts after all, so the higher the caliber, the more people are going to be receptive to it and the greater the changes that are going to occur in people. They thus have to be perfect performances. They have to be perfect in every respect--the moment the curtain rises, a most beautiful scene should meet the eye. " ("Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference ")
In our daily life, every practitioner must show his/her inner beauty and a pleasant appearance at all times and on all occasions. We must not only leave others with an impression of kindness and compassion, but also present ourselves as pleasing to their eyes. This way, it will be better and easier for us to save sentient beings. However, many practitioners give people quite the opposite impression, creating obstacles in saving people.
When I am clarifying the truth to people, some have said to me, "Falun Dafa is good and it teaches people to be a better person. However, after having learned Falun Dafa everything has changed. So-and-so used to pay great attention to her appearance, but look at her now!" When I told the people around me to say, "Falun Dafa is good!" they would all accept it. When I gave them Falun Dafa books, they would read them. If I wanted to go a step further and asked them to learn the practice of Falun Dafa, they would decline, saying that they would start to practice when they start getting old. One of the major obstacles was that they found it hard for them to accept the changes in the appearance of the practitioners around them. The message they got from the practitioners' appearance was that once they learned to practice Falun Dafa they would be unable to dress nicely or wear jewelry or makeup. As a result, some would look older than their age.
Even though at this special period of time, practitioners are all very busy, it would not take very much time for career woman practitioners to focus a little more on their presentation. It should be pretty easy for them to fix their eye makeup and apply some lipstick. One of the practitioners said that when going out with colleagues on business trips, young girls would address her colleague as "big sister," but they would address her as a "aunt" ["big sister" and "aunt" are respectful terms for addressing older women in China]. This has become a running joke among her colleagues.
Why would this happen? It is because many of the practitioners have let go of their attachment to their appearance. A lot of practitioners had wrinkles on their hands and faces. When they were advised to buy some cosmetics, they said they had been like this all these years and that practitioners should let go of any attachments. Some practitioners did not go to the barber when their hair was too long. They said it would be wasting time to go to the barber. Some practitioners would continue to wear their clothes without washing them. They argued that we should not waste our time on such trifles. When going out to clarify the truth, many people would shy away at the sight of the practitioners' appearance. When these practitioners were advised to buy some proper clothing, they would be very surprised, asking, "Why are you still attached to clothing? Money should be used to save the sentient beings."
All practitioners know the importance and urgency of clarifying the truth, but isn't our appearance itself a form of direct truth-clarification? People cannot understand the inner world of practitioners; therefore, they pay attention to practitioners' appearance . If each practitioner could dress well and display their elegant demeanor, isn't this truth-clarification? We must do a good job in our cultivation and pay attention to our appearance and dress.
This is my personal opinion. Please point out anything that is inappropriate.
