Five Hundred Arhats No.331 · The Venerable Steadfast Heart | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.331 The Venerable Steadfast Heart

'Steadfast heart' means raising the awakening mind with firm vows, unretreating through aeons, the heart like a vajra that cannot be broken; the name marks one whose mind and resolve are firm, unbowed by a hundred setbacks. The venerable looks steadfast and steady, possessing the composure of a heart firm as vajra, vows without retreat, growing firmer through every trial, bearing bodhi on a steadfast 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