A Good-Looking Artist Turns Ugly—and Realizes It’s Due to the Statues He Creates

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Courtesy of Ancient Stories

Ancient Stories is dedicated to discovering timeless traditions and morals from different cultures across the world. The following tale is one of the many video stories produced by the Ancient Stories channel on GanJingWorld.com—a global online platform helping revitalize traditional connections. We hope these chosen tales of wisdom will benefit our readers, both young and old. 

This story reminds us that our thoughts are powerful. That we become what we think. Ancient wisdom upholds that “man is just like a container, it becomes whatever it contains.” It’s crucial for us all to cultivate a sense of awareness to distinguish what is good from bad, so that we can keep our “inner world” clean and clear. Enjoy reading!

Chinese people often say, “facial appearance originates from the heart,” which makes a lot of sense. Here is a story that can serve as proof.

Once there was a sculptor who liked to pursue the latest trends in the art world. He often made statues of evil demons, ghosts, and monsters. As time went by, he found his facial appearance became more and more ugly.

The sculptor making a statue of a demon. Courtesy of Ancient Stories

He went to a hospital for an examination but the doctors couldn’t find the cause.

One day he met a master of qigong, a form of Chinese energy-healing exercises, who was very accomplished. The master said confidently that he could cure the man’s illness, but he wanted the artist to pay him back by sculpting one hundred Buddha statues.

The qigong master. Courtesy of Ancient Stories

The master also told the artist that as soon as he started the sculpture work, the master would start to cure him. The artist agreed to this arrangement.

So, the artist stopped all his current work and started to work on the statues of Buddha.

A Buddha statue. Courtesy of Ancient Stories

While he was working on them, he found his facial appearance began to gradually change.

After he got one hundred statues done, his appearance did not just return to normal—but he looked even more handsome than before.

When he delivered the statues to the master, the master said: “It was not I who cured your illness, it was you.”

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