On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c6.s2.16

v1.c6.s2.16

As we learn from other sources the people of this country were good Buddhists, and the number of Buddhist images and buildings throughout the land was very great.² Our pilgrim passed more than one monastery in it on his way to the capital, and he spent his first night there with the Kao-ch'ang Brethren in their monastery. That the lay people, or at least the king, kept the vows of lay disciples we may infer from the Life's account of the king's breakfast to the pilgrim. It is specially mentioned that among the food served at this entertainment were the "three pure" kinds of meat; Yuan-chuang partook of the rest of the food but declined these, explaining that although they were allowed by the "gradual teaching" they were forbidden by the “Great Vehicle” of which he was an adherent. The Brethren, who were all Hīnayānists, gave the pilgrim in their several monasteries as light refreshment grape-syrup which was a strictly orthodox beverage for all. Ku-chih had long been converted to Buddhism but it had not always been Hīnayānist as we read of one of its former kings being a devoted Mahāyānist.