Five Hundred Arhats No.21 · The Venerable Upagupta | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.21 The Venerable Upagupta

Upagupta, the fifth patriarch in the Indian Dharma-transmission lineage, was a great master in the age of King Aśoka. Born after the Buddha's passing, he nonetheless attained the noble fruit and converted countless beings, and his contemporaries called him the 'Buddha without marks.' The venerable is shown with inward poise and calm gravitas, the composure of a patriarch who transmits the Dharma lamp.

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