Five Hundred Arhats No.162 · The Venerable Clear Illumination | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.162 The Venerable Clear Illumination

'Clear illumination' means wisdom that is bright and penetrates all phenomena, as a lamp breaks the dark and reaches everywhere; the name marks one who illumines principle with clear insight, luminous within and without. The venerable has a lucid gaze and a clear expression, possessing the brightness of wisdom that illumines, penetrates dependent arising and dispels folly with the light of non-delusion.

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