Five Hundred Arhats No.206 · The Venerable Pātra | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.206 The Venerable Pātra

Pātra is the Sanskrit word for a bhikṣu's alms-bowl, one of the six requisites, signifying few desires and contentment, sustaining the body by the bowl and the heart by the path; the name marks one who keeps his bowl in accordance with the Dharma and lives purely. The venerable holds his bowl at peace with a spare look, possessing the simplicity of alms-round, few desires and contentment, nourishing the body with the proper bowl to pursue the way.

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