s of the
mahayana.(2) They all receive their food from the common store.(3)
Throughout the country the houses of the people stand apart like
(separate) stars, and each family has a small tope(4) reared in front
of its door. The smallest of these may be twenty cubits high, or
rather more.(5) They make (in the monasteries) rooms for monks from
all quarters,(5) the use of which is given to travelling monks who may
arrive, and who are provided with whatever else they require.

The lord of the country lodged Fa-Hsien and the others comfortably,
and supplied their wants, in a monastery(6) called Gomati,(6) of the
mahayana school. Attached to it there are three thousand monks, who
are called to their meals by the sound of a bell. When they enter the
refectory, their demeanour is marked by a reverent gravity, and they
take their seats in regular order, all maintaining a perfect silence.
No sound is heard from their alms-bowls and other utensils. When any
of these pure men(7) require food, they are not allowed to call out
(to the attendants) for it, but only make signs with their hands.

Hwuy-king, Tao-ching, and Hwuy-tah set out in advance towards the
country of K'eeh-ch'a;(8) but Fa-Hsien and the others, wishing to see
the procession of images, remained behind for three months. There are
in this country four(9) 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,(10) take up their residence (for the
time).

The monks of the Gomati monastery, being mahayana students, and held
in great reverence by the king, took precedence of all others in the
procession. At a distance of three or four le 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(11) were grandly displayed about it, with silken streamers
and canopies hanging all around. The (chief) image(12) stood in the
middle of the car, with two Bodhisattvas(13) in attendance upon it,
while devas(14) 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 cro