Five Hundred Arhats No.349 · The Venerable Gathering Residual Traces | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.349 The Venerable Gathering Residual Traces

'Gathering residual traces' means collecting and exhausting the residual habitual tendencies (the lingering scent of affliction), ending the main defilements and removing their traces too, until even the subtlest latent currents are pure; the name marks one who also cuts residual tendencies, ultimately pure. The venerable makes a subtle contemplative gesture with a fine, clear look, possessing the meticulousness of exhausting residual traces, cutting latent currents too, ultimately pure, omitting not even the subtlest tendency.

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