The Development of Chinese Buddists Painting after the Five Dynasties with the Figure of Arhat

Studying the buddist painting before the Five Dynasties, we can see that they are graceful, and most of them are mural painting which serve as worshiping and decoration. After the Five Dynasties, religious mural paintings was on the decline due to the rise of literary painting and popular paintings and it also transfers from mural painting to scrolled paintings. Instead, it saw the popularity of subjects of themes full of humanistic style, such as Arhat and Avalokitesvara. After the Five Dynasties, Buddhist painting became the means of expressing the noble aspiration for the scholars, unlimited by the forms and discipline of Buddhism. Whether in the aesthetic function or in forms, it differs from the previous dynasties and the Buddhist painting gradually become of targets of aesthetic appreciation.