Five Hundred Arhats No.159 · The Venerable Joyful | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.159 The Venerable Joyful

'Joyful' means the great joy that arises on hearing and realizing the Dharma, filled with Dharma-joy and fed by the bliss of absorption; the name marks one who abides in constant gladness, free of sorrow and affliction. The venerable's joy shows in his face and smiling eyes, possessing the harmony of Dharma-joy and meditative bliss, content wherever he is, gladdening himself and others with a joyful heart.

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