Five Hundred Arhats No.196 · The Venerable Chanda | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.196 The Venerable Chanda

Chanda (also rendered Chandaka) was the prince's charioteer at the Great Renunciation who later renounced under the Buddha and realized arhatship; listed among the five hundred arhats, the name signifies turning toward the path and an early aspiration finally fulfilled. The venerable appears as an Indian monk with an earnest look, recorded objectively without dramatizing old tales, conveying only the sincerity of leaving the worldly for the path and diligently realizing the fruit.

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