Five Hundred Arhats No.98 · The Venerable of the Dharma King's Bodhi | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.98 The Venerable of the Dharma King's Bodhi

'Dharma king' is an epithet of the Buddha, sovereign over the Dharma, and 'bodhi' is supreme awakening; the name marks one resolved to attain buddhahood and go straight to the Dharma king's supreme bodhi. The venerable looks solemn and turned toward the highest, expressing the profound vow that takes the awakening mind as its cause, moves toward right enlightenment and carries forward the lineage of the Dharma king.

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