Five Hundred Arhats No.240 · The Venerable Gazing at Sumeru | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.240 The Venerable Gazing at Sumeru

'Gazing at Sumeru' means looking up to the king of mountains, the heart set on the highest Dharma as one who climbs Sumeru and sees lesser peaks below; the name marks one who aspires to the unsurpassed and looks up to the Buddha's virtue. The venerable makes a gazing-up gesture with a lofty look, possessing the height of revering the mountain-king, seeking the unsurpassed, the heart on the highest bodhi, standing out above the rest.

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