Five Hundred Arhats No.255 · The Venerable Boundless Light | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.255 The Venerable Boundless Light

'Boundless light' is the meaning of Amitābha, the Buddha of infinite light whose radiance illumines the ten directions without obstruction; listed among the five hundred arhats, the Buddha's boundless light is taken as title to signify wisdom-light illumining all without remainder. The venerable looks bright with glowing features, possessing the lucidity of infinite light that pervades the ten directions and breaks every darkness through unobstructed wisdom-rays.

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