Five Hundred Arhats No.442 · The Venerable Contemplating the Boundless | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.442 The Venerable Contemplating the Boundless

'Contemplating the boundless' means beholding all dharmas as boundless, wisdom-light pervading across and through, contemplating the boundless dharma-dhātu, the heart's measure equal to space; the name marks one whose contemplative wisdom is boundless, pervading the dharma-dhātu. The venerable makes a vast-contemplation gesture with a spacious look, possessing the vastness of boundless contemplation, pervading the dharma-dhātu, a heart equal to space, illumining all dharmas with boundless wisdom.

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