Five Hundred Arhats No.251 · The Venerable Brahmā Voice | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.251 The Venerable Brahmā Voice

'Brahmā voice' is a pure tone like Brahmā's, deep and far, making hearers pure and free of desire, also signifying the purity of the first dhyāna heaven; the name marks one whose voice is pure as Brahmā's, divine in tone. The venerable makes a sounding gesture with a clear, far look, possessing the loftiness of a deep Brahmā-voice, pure and free of desire, making listeners' hearts clean through a pure wondrous tone.

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