Arhat. Ch: luohan, Sk: arhan. Abbreviation of arakan 阿羅漢, a translation of the Sk. term arhan. Also ōgu 応供. The highest disciples of *Shaka 釈迦. In Hinayana Buddhism, rakan are revered as having completed their training and ranked as mugaku 無学 (nothing else to learn), which indicates that they achieved the highest point that a disciple of Shaka could reach. However, in Mahayana Buddhism, rakan who aim at their own salvation are placed next in rank to boddhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩. It is said that when Shaka entered nirvana (see *nehan-zu 涅槃図), rakan were ordered to live in this world and protect the True Law shōhō 正法. Therefore, rakan are depicted in the guise of priests, with buddhist monks' robes *kesa 袈裟 and bald heads teihatsu 剃髪. Rakan were depicted in painting in the Six dynasties, but after Xuanzhuang (Jp: Genjō 玄奘, 600-664) translated Hōjūki 法住記 containing biographies of sixteen rakan *jūroku rakan 十六羅漢, the cult of rakan became popular . Since the 9th century, numerous paintings and sculptures of rakan were produced in both China and Japan. Typically, they are depicted in a group of sixteen or eighteen jūhachi rakan 十八羅漢, and this may be expanded to five hundred rakan *gohyaku rakan 五百羅漢. Rakan paintings are often stylistically classified into two groups: the riryūmin-yō 李龍眠様, the moderate style with thin, even lines which is associated with the 11th-century painter Li Gonglin (Jp: Ri Kōrin 李公麟) also called Li Longmian (Jp: Ri Ryūmin 李龍眠), and the zengetsuyō 禅月様, a bolder style with exaggerated lines that is associated with the 9th-century painter Guanxiu (Jp: Kankyū 貫休), also called Chanyue 禅月. See *zengetsuyō rakan 禅月様羅漢. However, there are quite a few examples which are not included in either of these two styles.