Chen Guohua: Creating Fine Music With a Pure Mind

Chen Guohua is a practitioner who started practising in early 1999. Currently he lives in Germany. He has a passion for the arts, especially playing the flute. Three years ago, he started to compose Dafa music – solo pieces for the flute. Using unique melodies, he extolled the new beginning and beautiful future brought to all matter by Dafa and the noble state of Dafa practitioners; he also expressed his deep concern about practitioners in China being persecuted and portrayed respect for their courage in the face of violence. The few solo tunes he composed and performed were chosen to be included in a disc collection of Dafa music. In order to understand the path he took in composing Dafa music, a reporter interviewed him.

Question: How did you begin to compose Dafa music?

Answer: I had never composed any songs before. I only performed the works of others. After being encouraged and inspired by other practitioners who were involved in creating Dafa music, a desire to compose music came to my mind. Once I was waiting for the bus and unconsciously sang and hummed to myself some beautiful melodies. After that, I quickly arranged them into a flute solo tune. Sometimes when I wake up, suddenly a beautiful melody appears in my mind. I quickly record it and it becomes another song. Putting aside my astonishment, I understood that it was because I practised Falun Dafa , my wisdom was unleashed. When I studied the Fa diligently and achieved a state of tranquillity and my mind had no distracting thoughts, my inspiration for creating music would come in an endless flow.

Question: Your latest flute creation “Spring Blossoms Braving the Snow” was well received by everyone. Can you talk about the meaning expressed in this song?

Answer: Plum blossoms is one of the four virtuous men signified using plants (Blossoms, lily magnolia, chrysanthemum, bamboo) praised in China. It grows defiantly and upright, undeterred by severe cold, it is used to describe the unyielding righteousness of learned scholars and the noble character of those who do not succumb to brutal violence. I used plum blossoms as a comparison to Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted and detained in labour camps in China. They endure inhuman torture yet remain indomitable and do not succumb to the evil.

This song is made up of the following three sections:

1) Practitioners endure all kinds of torture yet display a firm determination in pursuing their faith. The slightly sad tune conveys a beautiful melody;
2) The fast melody expresses encouragement, vigour and persistence in safeguarding the Fa of the cosmos;
3) The slow beat signifies the coming of spring when all hardship and suffering will end, welcoming a beautiful future (To hear “Spring blossoms braving the snow” go to http://www.zhengjian.org/music/articles/8/22669.html)

Question: What standards have you set for yourself for future compositions?

Answer: I will continue to compose Dafa music. As every stage of my creation is a reflection of my level of cultivation and understanding of Dafa, therefore, I should study the Fa more, dissolve in the Fa, purify my thoughts, raise my level, maintain a peaceful state of mind, have no attachments to obtaining results, go along with the decree of heaven, produce good music and walk on the path of a Dafa practitioner’s music composition.

Question: What characteristics do you think Dafa music has?

Answer: Ancient traditional music places emphasis on the union of heaven and man. Music comes from inspiration given by god, thus there is the saying “this song should only exist in heaven, there are few occasions it should be heard on earth”. Due to the deterioration of moral standards, modern music has become tasteless, pursuing personal sentiments, novel and strange, to make money and satisfy people’s distorted notions. Dafa music is the creation of practitioners of Dafa. The music composer is first of all a cultivator, in the process of cultivation, he eliminates all kinds of bad thoughts, rectifies his moral standards and dissolves into the Fa. Naturally the Dafa music he composed will have the meaning and power of Dafa inside. Dafa music does not pay attention to the forms of music of everyday people, including styles, folk customs, schools etc. The purer the state of mind of the practitioner, the easier it is to achieve the state of “heart follows the will of Heaven.” Thus the music composed will be purer just like heavenly music, out of this world. The listener will be moved and their heart purified.

Question: You have participated and organised some Dafa music concerts, can you talk about this process and what it means from the perspective of cultivation to practitioners who participated in it?

Answer: Every music event we hold is closely related to our cultivation. In the entire process of organising and making preparations, there are many tests to pass, such as the competitive mentality, the attachment to fame, the mentality of matching up to others, etc. There is also the problem of coordination with each other. As Dafa music is not the music of everyday people, it is not for entertainment and enjoyment, but for the purpose of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings, thus the demands on us are very high. We are not using music to display our talents amongst everyday people but to display beauty. Only when we cultivate and rectify ourselves will Dafa music present its mighty power.