Five Hundred Arhats No.224 · The Venerable Mahīśāsaka | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.224 The Venerable Mahīśāsaka

Mahīśāsaka is the name of an early Buddhist school after the Buddha (the 'Himalayan/ground-conversion' school), whose vinaya is the Five-Section Vinaya; listed among the five hundred arhats, the school name is taken as title to signify strict discipline and transmission of the true teaching. The venerable has the grave air of a vinaya master with a precise look; the title is kept objectively without invented deeds, conveying only the gravity of strict discipline and unbroken transmission.

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