Five Hundred Arhats No.180 · The Venerable Wondrous Arm | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.180 The Venerable Wondrous Arm

'Wondrous arm' is an excellent arm, using the arm as a metaphor for skilful means, the hand that draws beings in; the name marks one who lifts the deluded to the far shore through skilful means. The venerable gestures deftly with a lively look, possessing the agility of a wondrous arm of means, well able to lift and guide, transforming beings through a soft, skilful hand.

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