Wu Bin Luo Han Chart Axis

[Wu Bin’s Arhat scroll]

The scroll of the Arhat scroll, painted by Wu Bin in the Ming Dynasty, is printed in silk with colors, 145.9 cm in vertical and 76.1 cm in horizontal
Item signature: “Written by Wu Bin, Zhiyin Toutuo.” Seal “in the text”, “Wu Bin’s seal”
There are three Buddhist figures in the picture, among which the one wearing red cassocks is holding a bowl of flying dragons in the air. The highest fruit position in Buddhist practice is Buddha, followed by Bodhisattva, and then Arhat. Before the Song Dynasty, there were sixteen Arhat, and then two more, namely, subduing the dragon and subduing the tiger, became eighteen Arhat. The Arhat who subdued the dragon ranks 17th among the 18 Arhat. According to the legend of ancient India, the original form of the Arhat who subdued the dragon was Qingyou Zun. It is said that in ancient India, the state demons incited the Chinese to kill the Buddhist disciples who became monks, destroyed the Buddha halls and pagodas, and looted the scriptures. At that time, the King of the Sea Dragon launched a flood, flooded the exhausted country, and collected the Buddhist scriptures in the Dragon Palace, waiting for the powerful monks to get them back. Finally, the Elder Qingyou completed his mission, so he was called Arhat Dragon Subduing. The figure in this picture is simple, with long, thin lines and rich colors. Wu Bin, as recorded in the Continuation of the Book of Paintings and Paintings, “is a good person, with strange behavior and strange appearance, very different from the old people, and has set up his own family.”