Five Hundred Arhats No.205 · The Venerable Auspicious Mantra | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.205 The Venerable Auspicious Mantra

'Auspicious mantra' is the mantra of well-being whose recitation brings merit, dissolves obstacles and invites the auspicious; a mantra (dhāraṇī) holds boundless good. The name marks one who keeps the auspicious mantra and blesses self and others through the true words. The venerable appears to recite with a solemn look, possessing the gravity of holding the auspicious dhāraṇī, clearing obstacles by recitation and guarding beings with pure true words.

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