Five Hundred Arhats No.236 · The Venerable Cutter of Karma | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.236 The Venerable Cutter of Karma

'Cutter of karma' means severing the karmic bonds of further becoming, no longer creating the karma of birth and death, karma ended and delusion empty, realizing the patience of non-arising; the name marks one whose karmic obstacles are cut, taking no further existence. The venerable makes an unbinding gesture with a resolute look, possessing the liberation of severing karmic bonds, karma ended and defilement void, no longer wandering, realizing non-arising.

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