Five Hundred Arhats No.436 · The Venerable Pure Heart-Contemplation | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.436 The Venerable Pure Heart-Contemplation

'Pure heart-contemplation' means contemplation with the heart, pure in the present moment, contemplating the heart as heartless; when the heart is pure the buddha-land is pure, revealing innate purity through contemplation; the name marks one who reveals innate purity through the contemplating heart. The venerable makes an inward-contemplation gesture with a clear, pure look, possessing the clarity of contemplating with the heart, innately pure now, contemplating the heart without mark, revealing the heart's purity through contemplation.

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