Five Hundred Arhats No.244 · The Venerable Sea of Wisdom | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.244 The Venerable Sea of Wisdom

'Sea of wisdom' means wisdom deep and vast as the ocean, taking every stream without overflowing, reaching the dharma-dhātu without shore—the Buddha's wisdom likened to a sea; the name marks one whose wisdom-sea is boundless. The venerable looks far-reaching with a vast presence, possessing the breadth of wisdom like the sea that holds all, deep and shoreless, illumining all phenomena through vast insight.

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