Five Hundred Arhats No.89 · The Venerable Anāthapiṇḍada | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.89 The Venerable Anāthapiṇḍada

Anāthapiṇḍada, also rendered in Chinese as 'he who gives to the lonely,' is famed in the sūtras for generosity, relieving the orphaned and poor, and supporting the Dharma. The venerable makes a gesture of giving with a warm, kindly expression, embodying the generous heart of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity that aids the poor and gathers beings through dāna.

Painted by Li Zongyi in the freehand Chinese ink (xieyi) tradition, the brushwork is fluent and the ink tones layered from dense to pale, capturing the arhat’s spirit in a few assured strokes. The blank paper itself breathes Zen; figure and spirit are one, blending monastic solemnity with the literati’s ease. Each of the Five Hundred Arhats bears its own name and practice, uniting faith, art and collectibility — an original, non-reproducible hand-painted work.

Size: approx. 100×50cm (4.5 square chi) | Traditional hand-painted Chinese ink Zen Buddhist figure painting | On paper