We call Mr. Liu Shiming a “benevolent man” because he has a “benevolent heart”. As an individual, there is always good and evil in one’s nature, and the good in one’s nature is the seed of the “benevolent heart”, which became stronger and more powerful during Liu Shiming’s own illness, and inspired a strong vitality that gradually matured his understanding of life. His nature, his illness and his vitality were the conditions that enabled him to become a “benevolent person” and enabled him to “love the people”. The seeds of benevolence are universal in every human being, with the main difference being the ability to mobilise one’s own energy in the face of hardship and suffering. The outside world may be so strong and powerful that one is not able to fight against it. The most ideal state is to understand the external world as an inevitability under the conditions of the here and now, and not to complain about it, but to face it head-on, understand it and use one’s own strength to solve it. A benevolent person is, first of all, an independent person, so that he or she can treat and respect others equally and see the value of independent personality, which constitutes the heart of a benevolent person.
A benevolent person is in the earthly realm but never in the dust, and the dust is not only a counterpoint to his nobility, but also a necessary nourishment for it, just as illness is to Liu Shiming. He touched his death with his illness, an experience that made life itself extraordinarily precious and made the meaning of life ever purer. There are various kinds of human deaths, each of which is an alienation of a different perspective on life, reflecting on its value and enlightening people about its meaning. The love of benevolence is the love of life, the love of life without alienation, the love of life in its simplicity.
Life, all of it, is from womb to tomb, and life is too short to be wasted. The art of Mr. Liu Shiming is due to the love of life that he once had for death, and from the love of life to the love of man, and the depth of his love of man enables him to enter into his art, to make such subtle works, and with the universal and vast expression of human goodness, to make himself a more complete benevolent person.
A benevolent person is in the earthly realm but never in the dust, and the dust is not only a counterpoint to his nobility, but also a necessary nourishment for it, just as illness is to Liu Shiming. He touched his death with his illness, an experience that made life itself extraordinarily precious and made the meaning of life ever purer. There are various kinds of human deaths, each of which is an alienation of a different perspective on life, reflecting on its value and enlightening people about its meaning. The love of benevolence is the love of life, the love of life without alienation, the love of life in its simplicity.
Life, all of it, is from womb to tomb, and life is too short to be wasted. The art of Mr. Liu Shiming is due to the love of life that he once had for death, and from the love of life to the love of man, and the depth of his love of man enables him to enter into his art, to make such subtle works, and with the universal and vast expression of human goodness, to make himself a more complete benevolent person.
Ma Lu: Dean of the School of Fine Arts, Central Academy of Fine Arts
Nov. 14, 2019
Nov. 14, 2019