Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the
country of K'eeh-ch'a; but Fa-hien and the others, wishing to see the
procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are in
this country four great monasteries, not counting the smaller ones.
Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they sweep and water the
streets inside the city, making a grand display in the lanes and byways.
Over the city gate they pitch a large tent, grandly adorned in all
possible ways, in which the king and queen, with their ladies
brilliantly arrayed, take up their residence for the time.
The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held in
greatest reverence by the king, took precedence of all the others in the
procession. At a distance of three or four li from the city, they made a
four-wheeled image car, more than thirty cubits high, which looked like
the great hall of a monastery moving along. The seven precious
substances [3] were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers
and canopies hanging all around. The chief image stood in the middle of
the car, with two Bodhisattvas [4] in attendance on it, while devas were
made to follow in waiting, all brilliantly carved in gold and silver,
and hanging in the air. When the car was a hundred paces from the gate,
the king put off his crown of state, changed his dress for a fresh suit,
and with bare feet, carrying in his hands flowers and incense, and with
two rows of attending followers, went out at the gate to meet the image;
and, with his head and face bowed to the ground, he did homage at its
feet, and then scattered the flowers and burnt the incense.
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