When the
image was entering the gate, the queen and the brilliant ladies with her
in the gallery above scattered far and wide all kinds of flowers, which
floated about and fell promiscuously to the ground. In this way
everything was done to promote the dignity of the occasion. The
carriages of the monasteries were all different, and each one had its
own day for the procession. The ceremony began on the first day of the
fourth month, and ended on the fourteenth, after which the king and
queen returned to the palace.
Seven or eight li to the west of the city there is what is called the
King's new monastery, the building of which took eighty years, and
extended over three reigns. It may be two hundred and fifty cubits in
height, rich in elegant carving and inlaid work, covered above with gold
and silver, and finished throughout with a combination of all the
precious substances. Behind the tope there has been built a Hall of
Buddha, of the utmost magnificence and beauty, the beams, pillars,
venetianed doors and windows, being all overlaid with gold-leaf. Besides
this, the apartments for the monks are imposingly and elegantly
decorated, beyond the power of words to express. Of whatever things of
highest value and preciousness the kings in the six countries on the
east of the Ts'ung range of mountains are possessed, they contribute the
greater portion to this monastery, using but a small portion of them
themselves.
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