Five Hundred Arhats No.283 · The Venerable Pudgala | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.283 The Venerable Pudgala

Pudgala (Sanskrit, 'person', 'being who transmigrates') is the term for the person or individual; listed among the five hundred arhats, the name is taken as title to signify contemplating the selflessness of the person, realizing person-emptiness to attain sainthood. The venerable appears as an Indian monk with an awakened look; the title is kept objectively without miraculous legend, conveying only seeing the absence of a self and liberation through realizing the aggregates as composite.

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