Interview with Xiao Feng (Renowned Oil Painter and Art Educator)

Brief Introduction: Xiao Feng, a renowned Chinese oil painter and art educator. He studied abroad at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in the Soviet Union. Upon returning to China, he served as the President of the China Academy of Art and Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association, and was an expert receiving special allowances from the State Council. He profoundly shaped the landscape of modern higher art education in China. Due to his outstanding contributions to cultural exchange between China and foreign countries, he was awarded the Russian Pushkin Medal of Culture, the French Medal of Outstanding Contribution to Science, Culture and Art, and was an honorary academician of the Repin Academy of Fine Arts, enjoying fame both at home and abroad.

Interview Chief Writer: Venerable Fa Ru

July 5, 2026

Xiao Feng:

Namo Amituofo, I am Xiao Feng, the same Xiao Feng known to everyone as the President of the Academy of Art. Of course, this is not to boast about my titles; after all, China is vast and populous, and if one were to simply use the name "Xiao Feng," people might think of someone else entirely.

However, this is a true story I wish to share with you all. The current me has indeed passed away, and this spirit of mine did not go to any other place, but is currently inside a temple. This temple is called the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, located in Australia. This entire sequence of events is quite mysterious, and even I am very surprised by such an outcome.

Let me first talk about what happened before and during my passing. As everyone knows, my body had been gradually decaying before I passed away, which is a common phenomenon when people age. After this decay, the body slowly stopped obeying me, and I could no longer devote myself to my creations for long periods as I had in previous years. Most of the time, I could only sit quietly in a chair, conceiving more works in my mind, yet my heart was willing but my strength was lacking. How I longed to pick up the brush again, to stand before the canvas once more, to paint boldly, and to compose and splash out magnificent scenes and works.

I never slacked off in this life, only because the scenes I saw in my heart were far more numerous than what I had painted with my hands. It would have been a pity if I had not seized the time to express these scenes in my heart through the form of art. However, as one ages, one truly feels powerless. In my later years, I gradually became unable to create for long periods, and the time taken to complete works kept increasing, leading to a significant reduction in the quantity of my creations.

Although I continued to receive international invitations, inquiries and condolences from various units, and additional honours, which made me feel deeply gratified—as if I were still in my prime and could still exert myself in the field of art—in reality, in my studio, I was very clear about my own creative situation. Every time a magnificent scene emerged in my heart, looking at the blank canvas and the brush in my hand, I was ultimately unable to shorten the distance between myself and the canvas. This was a kind of powerlessness.

Later on, I gradually needed to go in and out of the hospital and could no longer create steadily. At this time, I also knew that my life had reached a limit. However, regarding my contribution to art in this life, I would not measure it by numbers or the quantity of works. As an artist, the most important thing is the state of mind when painting, the heart and blood poured into the work, allowing one's consciousness and soul to flow forever within these works. It is about passing on important concepts and thoughts to future generations, so that everyone who views my work and experiences its charm can receive my inheritance.

Speaking of which, people might think this is just a sentimental remark about artistic conception and charm, about passing on the soul and the space of artistic thought to future generations. In fact, do not underestimate this statement, because the reality behind it is indeed exactly so. Just after I died, because I was constantly thinking about how to create new works and continue to exert myself in art, at the very moment I stopped breathing, I was still thinking about how to create new works.

Because of this, after my breath ceased, my spirit continued to paint within a large oil painting creative space. In fact, I did not know whether I had already died or entered some other space. At that time, I only knew that I was very happy in this creative space. I painted and created to my heart's content, quickly recording every fleeting flash of inspiration onto the canvas. The works presented seemed somewhat chaotic, but they were a new form of creation I had never seen or experienced before. This made me feel very excited and jubilant. I was unable to extricate myself from this space, continuously creating all kinds of works. And this creation was just like when I was alive; I would often forget to eat and sleep, without feeling the passage of time.

Creating like this, by the time I came to my senses, nearly eleven months had passed. This sounds unbelievable; how could one spend eleven months creating continuously without eating or drinking? The real reason is that I had actually already passed away. Without a body, it is natural to be able to create continuously for such a long time. This sounds like a fantasy, but it truly happened to me. In this space, I did not notice the passage of time at all, nor did I discover that I was no longer holding a brush with a physical body, but was in the identity of a spirit, relying on the intention of the spirit to wield the brush in my mind, splashing my emotions, thoughts, and inspiration onto an invisible canvas. I did not feel surprised or any sense of incongruity during this, and just like that, I created continuously for several months.

Later, under the illumination of a golden light, I suddenly woke up and for the first time had a question: Where exactly is this? This place looks like my usual studio, yet it is somewhat different. After all, for such a long time, no one came to talk to me, ask me to work, or discuss any art collaborations or event invitations. This made me feel strange; had everyone forgotten me?

Only later did I understand that at that time, I was a spirit that had passed away. Although the body had died, the spirit had not, and it continued to exist in the space with an intense creative intention. Subsequently, I followed the golden light to an extremely bright world.

As an artist who has travelled the world, I can naturally capture and remember beautiful things, but the "spiritual world" I saw from a spiritual perspective before my eyes left me in awe, difficult to describe in words. I have never seen such a magnificent, dignified, glorious, and clean world; it can only be described as "perfect."

The beautiful scenery in the human world is nothing more than man-made architecture with carved beams and painted rafters, or the majestic scenes created by the uncanny workmanship of nature, but these are far inferior to everything I saw in the "Western Land of Dharma Nature":

Everything here is delicate, beautiful, clean, and open. All things emit incomparable light, dazzling yet gentle, and full of energy. No matter where one is, even in a corner, one can resonate with this beautiful energy and draw endless nourishment from it.

Thinking of this, I am actually at a loss for words, not knowing how to describe it, which is enough to prove the magnificence of this world. As an artist, I really wanted to quickly pick up a brush or use photographic equipment to record all of this, but I had nothing at hand, which was truly a pity. At first, I worried that such beautiful scenery was just a fleeting moment, but now I no longer worry, because I am sitting securely on a lotus seat.

This is one of the features of the Western Land of Dharma Nature; there are lotus seats everywhere, and everyone sits securely on them, moving freely without leaving the flower seat. There are no shadows here, only endless light, because all things themselves emit light. This place is boundlessly vast, something difficult to construct in the Earth's environment.

What is wonderful is that here, I can clearly see the scenes on Earth, just like a space-time that completely overlaps with Earth but is parallel. In the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, I stayed in the spiritual world within the temple for nearly a month. There is no worry about food or clothing here, and the afflictions of the past are gone.

Because I abandoned everything, I also slowly settled down to experience this different life. Looking back now, for the first time in my life, I truly experienced what is called Buddhist education. In the past, during the process of artistic creation, although I had studied the cultural backgrounds of different religions, those were at best decorations for artistic presentation, not the core essence. It was not until I was in the Western Land of Dharma Nature that I truly understood the core essence of Buddhist education for the first time. This Buddhist education truly gives people a different experience.

Why do I say this? Because no one had ever emphasized to me the importance of "letting go of everything for others and having no-self." I had never thought that such a concept could be carried out to such an extreme.

In the concepts I learned in the past, pursuing beauty, pursuing goodness, pursuing one's own success, and pursuing one's own ideas were the basic principles of life. However, now I have to completely remove any element that includes "self," and this is the way to truly elevate one's spirit; this indeed made me feel very surprised.

In this life, I taught many students in school and saw them have very successful developments, so I was very certain that my teaching philosophy was correct. However, now that I have encountered the Buddha’s teachings, the entire foundation has been overturned.

What people should pursue is not everything seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, or felt by the body, but to let go of all this and strive to serve all those who have karmic affinity with oneself and can influence each other with a selfless and no-self attitude. This is a concept I had never thought of before.

Letting go of all feelings, thoughts, and understandings of things—the things on the "outer appearance"—is a completely different approach for me. Because my whole life was about recording these beautiful things, precious scenes, and concepts in the form of art, allowing these concepts to enter people's eyes and hearts.

But now that I have learned Buddhist education, I understand that all of this is "not ultimate." What is meant by not ultimate is that it is of no help to the spiritual elevation of a person.

The reason it is of no help is that spiritual elevation comes from "purification," and purification comes from having nothing in the heart. However, my artworks were adding things to the heart, constantly pouring in various colours, scenes, sights, and moments that people boast as precious. When many memories and defilements are stored in this heart, and the heart has such complex thoughts and ideas, it naturally cannot be purified; that contaminated heart and spirit naturally appear dim and lightless.

In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, everything is so bright, emitting light of different sizes, because everyone's degree of purification is different. I only now truly understand that if art is merely limited to colour and sensory stimulation, bringing enjoyment or moving people, that is actually a quite superficial form of artistic expression.

I now know that true art lies in how to remove the stains, defilements, and dark components in people's hearts; this is the most basic concept promoted by Buddhist education. When the defilements are removed, every spirit presents a state of incomparable brightness, cleanliness, and beauty.

The emotion and admiration that the Western Land of Dharma Nature brought me are all because these purified spirits and the completely pure environment gave me a new understanding of "beauty." As things stand, it is too late for me to deny all this, because the shock caused to me by the beauty brought by the current spiritual purity is real and immense.

Therefore, I hope that the students who have received my teaching guidance and learned painting techniques can continue to practise and comprehend the deeper meaning of aesthetics. This aesthetic is Buddhist education; it is not a religious form of art, but a purification of the heart without any form. It is mainly to help everyone elevate their spirits, so that after life ends, when looking back on this life, one can see whether this spirit of one's own has progressed or not. Therefore, only with Buddhist education can one understand all of this and the true meaning of this life. In the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I see many people in the world still rushing about for worldly things, thus paying a considerable price. This price is not as simple as the aging, sickness, and death of the body. This seems to be a path that everyone must take, but the suffering that each person bears is vastly different.

And what is truly unexpected is that the destination of the spiritual world is the real key. If one enters the hells to suffer punishment directly upon passing, the suffering endured will be incomparably tragic. In the Land of Dharma Nature, I watched spirits coming from all directions, and a large portion of them were saved from the hells. If it were not for the help of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, it would have been impossible to have the opportunity to escape the hells.

After I died, I was in the oil painting creative space, but that was only a part of my soul. In fact, I had other fragments of my soul that were already suffering punishment in the hells before I stopped breathing, which is why there was the phenomenon of physical illness and aging. The experience and physical sensation I described were just this true self continuing to paint and create in the oil painting creative space, but other spiritual fragments were still scattered in various places in the hells and in various spaces. Therefore, the state of this spirit was very chaotic.

At the same time that Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre saved me from that space, they also restored my spirit to a complete whole, avoiding the spirit being scattered in various spaces and suffering. This is truly something I find very inconceivable.

Therefore, I have explained these principles to everyone, hoping that you can understand that Buddhist education provides a very comprehensive exploration of the spiritual world. It allows people to understand that everything they do while alive is closely related to the spiritual world, and under the guidance of the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, it determines one's destination after the physical body perishes. Therefore, people should follow the Universal Principle rather than blindly chasing things they think are correct. Otherwise, you will suffer from various forms of ageing and illness while alive, and after death, your spirit will continue to suffer. The mysteries of the spiritual world are actually far more complex than everyone realises. Within the body, besides one's own spirit, there are many spiritual beings connected to one through past lives who are also using this body. As for me, the works I created and the achievements I attained in this life were not completed by me alone, but were the result of the collective operation of immeasurable and boundless spirits within this body. If you ask me what achievements this spirit has attained in this life, I truly cannot say, because this is the truth. After I died, these spirits within the body naturally returned to their respective spaces to wait for salvation. They were not as fortunate as I was to be saved by the Buddha. If they are not saved, they will continue to drift in space, becoming what everyone knows as lonely wandering spirits. This is quite heart-breaking. After all, they existed as spirits for a very long time, and in the distant past, they were once human as well. Who would have thought that after a brief time as a human, what followed would be a long, immeasurable spiritual life? This spirit cannot be the master of itself, nor does it know where to go, just drifting continuously in space. At that time, if I had not been saved by Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su, I would also be drifting in the space of creation, not knowing when I could be liberated. Therefore, everyone can understand the importance of Buddhist education; it is truly about saving spirits. Not only do people need to learn Buddhist education while they have a body, but for spirits who have already lost their bodies, it is even more necessary to learn Buddhist education, the Universal Principle, the Truth, and the Right Way, so as to avoid this spirit suffering retribution in various spaces, or even suffering in the hells. For the past seven years, the temple has spared no effort in promoting Buddhist education worldwide and has set up large Namo Amituofo billboards all over the world, hoping to help the spirits in space and people in the human world to understand and learn Buddhist education. Although this billboard may look like an ordinary advertisement to the physical eyes of humans, from a spiritual perspective, it radiates immense light, which can lead immeasurable and boundless beings to the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre, giving them a spiritual home. This billboard is magnificent and is a manifestation of Namo Amituofo’s compassion