The composition used is obviously indebted to representations of the monarchs who come from all quarters to attend the debate between Vimalakīrti and Mañjuśrī. There, however, within the boundaries of China proper the Chinese emperor is set with his courtiers on one side and the outlanders are massed on the other. Here they are all foreigners, with the entire length of the roll between them and the Yunnanese ruler at its head. The Chinese emperor, with two acolytes to hold his heavy sleeves, shares the first frame with a figure who looks like a senile Bodhisattva, and so presumably stands for India. The characterization of the rest is perfunctory, in comparison with paintings at the Dunhuang caves. It is curious that no figure is dark-skinned, in view of the relations that existed between Yunnan and Southeast Asian countries.
Various shades of red predominate in the garments. The Chinese emperor's over-robe is a purplish black. The white-haired, square-headed man in frame 132 is dressed in greenish gold, and the figure at the end in Indian princely dress has pale, silvery blue scarves.
The group was obviously not drawn by Zhang Shengwen, and is much closer to the hand or hands seem in the series of Yunnanese patriarchs, frames 51-57. Presumably these local, semi-secular subjects were relegated to Yunnanese artists, perhaps because of court politics. It is not hard to see, from the difference in quality, why so much was entrusted to the visiting Chinese master.