Five Hundred Arhats No.487 · The Venerable Guiding the Multitude | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.487 The Venerable Guiding the Multitude

'Guiding the multitude' means leading the great assembly, going before them in the true Dharma, leading all in practice, showing the right way, bringing beings together to bodhi; the name marks one skilled at guiding the multitude, a leader of all. The venerable makes a leading gesture with an instructing look, possessing the clarity of guiding the multitude, leading all in practice, showing the right way, bringing beings together to bodhi.

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