Mahāpajāpatī and five hundred Sakyan women cut off their own hair, put on robes and follow the Buddha all the way, until their feet are cracked and they are covered in dust, and stand weeping outside the gate. Ānanda asks the reason, pleads with the Buddha on her behalf, and recounts the kindness Mahāpajāpatī showed in raising the Buddha. The Buddha lays down the ; when Mahāpajāpatī accepts them she goes forth and receives , and the community of nuns is thereby founded. The Buddha also says that the true Dhamma, which could have lasted a thousand years, will now last five hundred. Pali Canon
More sources (1)
Different Accounts
Place: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition has the Hall with the Peaked Roof in the Great Wood at Vesālī; the Chinese Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka Vinayas have the Jetavana monastery at Sāvatthī; the Chinese Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya has the acacia grove at the village of Fanwei; the Qutanmi jing in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama has the Namotiqianni monastery. Taishō Canon
More sources (1)
More differences between accounts (2)
The items and order of the eight weighty rules differ between sources; the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya adds that after her ordination Mahāpajāpatī asked that monks and nuns should pay respect to one another by seniority of going forth, and the Buddha did not agree.
The Buddha biography Zhong benqi jing says that while the Buddha was at Kapilavatthu, Mahāpajāpatī asked three times and was refused each time; after the Buddha had sheltered from the rains there for three months and left, Mahāpajāpatī and a group of elderly women followed him to the riverside at Nasi district. Taishō Canon
Dating
Conjecturally placed in Year 5 after the Awakening, the Buddha aged thirty-nine; its order relative to the is unknown. The canonical texts say only “on one occasion when the Buddha was staying in the Hall with the Peaked Roof”; it is placed in this year here on the basis of the rains-retreat location, and only the year is known.
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Research Notes: Reliability, Dating and Sources
- How Reliability Is Assessed
Recorded by four schools: the Pali canon of the Southern tradition, the Chinese Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Sifen lü), the Chinese Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (Wufen lü) and the Chinese Madhyama Āgama. Attested across multiple schools.
- Dating Evidence and Precision
Source of the year not recorded. Time precision: year only.
Sources
- Pali Canon巴利律 Kd 20:1.2.1–1.2.3
- Pali Canon巴利 AN 8.51:5.3
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.605a–606a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.922c–923c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.185c–186b
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.350b–351b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.471a
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1428 p.922c
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.185c
- 大正藏大正藏 T24 no.1451 p.350b
- 大正藏大正藏 T01 no.26 p.605b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.186a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.196 p.158a
- 大正藏大正藏 T04 no.196 p.158b
- 巴利註解書巴利註釋 Thig-a，§156
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1425 p.514b
- 大正藏大正藏 T22 no.1421 p.186b