Five Hundred Arhats No.182 · The Venerable Puṣya | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.182 The Venerable Puṣya

Puṣya is a Sanskrit name of a lunar mansion and also one of the buddhas of the past (also rendered Tiṣya); listed among the five hundred arhats, it signifies shining like a constellation, with growing merit and wisdom. The venerable looks clear as if touched by starlight, possessing bright increase, reading capacities and gleaming like an auspicious star; no separate biography is invented.

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