Five Hundred Arhats No.210 · The Venerable Taste of the Vehicle | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.210 The Venerable Taste of the Vehicle

'Taste of the vehicle' is the flavor of the Dharma in the three vehicles, receiving the taste of liberation through the Buddha's teaching as if drinking ambrosia; the name marks one who feasts on the vehicle's Dharma and deeply tastes its flavor. The venerable seems to savor the Dharma with a serene look, possessing the peace of receiving the vehicle's teaching, deep Dharma-joy, and tasting the supreme flavor of liberation on the one-vehicle path.

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