Five Hundred Arhats No.334 · The Venerable Emptiness of Dust-Aeons | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.334 The Venerable Emptiness of Dust-Aeons

'Emptiness of dust-aeons' means contemplating the emptiness of all dharmas through aeons numerous as dust-motes, the count of dust-aeons originally void, without clinging to long or short; the name marks one who through aeons contemplates emptiness, knowing dharmas are originally void. The venerable looks vast and serene, possessing the openness of passing dust-aeons, seeing dharmas originally empty, not clinging to duration, illumining the falseness of aeon-counts through the wisdom of emptiness.

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