Five Hundred Arhats No.332 · The Venerable Echo Answering Sound | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.332 The Venerable Echo Answering Sound

'Echo answering sound' means teaching is like striking a bell: it responds upon being touched, as an echo answers the sound without fail; whenever beings call, the Dharma answers; the name marks one who teaches to fit the occasion, as echo to sound. The venerable makes a responding gesture with an alert look, possessing the sensitivity of echo answering sound, answering every call, teaching to fit the moment, responding to every feeling through unobstructed eloquence.

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