Five Hundred Arhats No.96 · The Venerable Endowed with Countless Psychic Powers | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.96 The Venerable Endowed with Countless Psychic Powers

'Psychic powers' are the inconceivable transformations issuing from absorption and wisdom, and 'countless' says those changes are numberless; the name marks one fully endowed with powers whose wondrous use is beyond thought. The venerable looks transcendent and raises a hand as if manifesting a transformation, showing that when the water of meditation is clear and the light of wisdom shines, one wields free powers without ever losing the awareness of prajñā.

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