Five Hundred Arhats No.143 · The Venerable of Rousing Vigor | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.143 The Venerable of Rousing Vigor

'Rousing vigor' likens him to a lion rousing itself or the swift surge of samādhi—bold and quick in absorption and wisdom, rising beyond worldly toil; the name marks one diligent and unstoppable, whom nothing obstructs. The venerable has an open posture and an alert, charged expression, possessing the lion's rousing power that breaks sloth and advances down the bodhi path without turning back.

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