Five Hundred Arhats No.391 · The Venerable Divine Eye | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.391 The Venerable Divine Eye

'Divine eye' means possessing the divine-eye superknowledge, clearly seeing far and near, before and after, coarse and subtle, inner and outer, death, birth and karmic retribution all lucid, illumining without hindrance; the name marks one whose divine eye is complete and bright, seeing through without obstruction. The venerable makes a far-seeing gesture with a penetrating look, possessing the clarity of a complete divine eye, unhindered sight, lucid karmic retribution, illumining the world with divine-eye wisdom.

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