大方便佛報恩經 5.53

5.53

"The Buddha told Ānanda: 'It is as you have said. It is not that the Tathāgata does not know the great kindness this lady has toward the Tathāgata; he simply does not delight in having women enter into the Buddha-Dharma. If the Tathāgata permits women to enter into the Buddha-Dharma, the saddharma will gradually decline and diminish by five hundred years. For this reason, the Tathāgata does not delight or rejoice in permitting women to enter into the Buddha-Dharma.' At that time, Ānanda prostrated himself touching the Buddha's feet with his head and face, knelt upright with palms joined, and said to the Buddha again: 'Bhagavat! Ānanda reflects that the Buddhas of the past were fully endowed with the fourfold assembly; could our Śākya Tathāgata alone not be fully endowed?' The Buddha told Ānanda: 'If Gautamī loves and delights in the Buddha-Dharma, arouses great vigor, and purely cultivates and practices the eight dharmas of respect, she is permitted to enter the Buddha-Dharma.' Ānanda immediately prostrated himself with head and face at the Buddha's feet, circumambulated him three times to the right, and then went outside, saying to the lady: 'Ānanda has already entreatingly requested the Tathāgata and succeeded in having you, Mother, uphold the Buddha-Dharma.' Having heard these words, Gautamī was filled with great joy and said to Ānanda: 'Excellent, Ānanda! That you were able to earnestly entreat and request the Tathāgata, and succeed in having me, this woman, fulfill my original vow!'