Five Hundred Arhats No.348 · The Venerable Removing Obstacles Through Merit | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.348 The Venerable Removing Obstacles Through Merit

'Removing obstacles through merit' means clearing karmic obstruction through pure meritorious action: as merit arrives obstruction dissolves, turning karma into wisdom; the name marks one skilled in meritorious action, removing obstruction through merit. The venerable makes a purifying gesture with a released look, possessing the ease of cultivating merit to clear obstruction, karma dissolved and wisdom bright, turning obstruction into virtue, cleansing past hindrance through pure merit.

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