Five Hundred Arhats No.185 · The Venerable Pure and Upright | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.185 The Venerable Pure and Upright

"Jingzheng" means a pure heart and upright conduct, pure without wrong and upright without bias, abiding in the right way with a clean heart, never partial or devious at any time. The name, recorded in the Southern Song Arhat-Name Stele, marks one pure and upright, walking the straight path. The venerable looks even and solemn with steady bearing, possessing a pure heart, upright conduct, freedom from bias and wrong, and abidance in the right way through a pure, upright heart.

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