釋迦氏譜 1.213

1.213

中本起云。佛還本國。大愛道白言。我聞女人出家得四道果。願得出家。佛言且止。女人入法非究暢梵行。如是三返而退。後重申請如前不許。便與女人退佛頓止河上。如前復求又亦不許。退在門外徒跣立啼。阿難見問具答。即為上請。佛言止止。如男少女多家則衰弱。女人出家法不久住。廣說譬類。重請養育長大。佛言。信有是恩。然我成佛其恩亦多得歸三寶。不疑四諦立信五根。受持五戒皆由我故。假使女人作沙門者。八敬之法不得踰越。盡受行之可入法律。阿難出告。便頂受佛教。又言。以度女人。減我正法後五百年。異學奉敬並漸衰微。大方便云。天魔惡邪毀佛法僧。故不聽度。阿難請言。如來豈不同過去佛耶。具四部眾。佛言。發大精進修八敬法。未來世中諸善女人。念阿難恩稱名供養。阿難以大威神應聲護助。

The Zhong benqi jing states: When the Buddha returned to his native country, Mahāprajāpatī addressed him, saying, "I have heard that if a woman leaves home, she can attain the four fruits of the path. I wish to be allowed to leave home." The Buddha said, "Stop. For a woman to enter the Dharma does not thoroughly fulfill the brahma-faring." In this way she was turned away three times. Later she made the request again, but as before was not permitted. She then gathered with women and followed the Buddha, halting by a river. As before she sought permission again, and again was refused. Retiring outside the gate, she stood barefoot and wept. Seeing her, Ānanda asked and was told everything; he immediately petitioned on her behalf. The Buddha said, "Stop, stop! Just as a family with few men and many women declines and weakens, so if women leave home, the Dharma will not endure long." He gave extensive parables and analogies. Ānanda petitioned again, mentioning her rearing and raising him. The Buddha said, "Indeed, there is such kindness. Yet now that I have achieved buddhahood, my kindness to her is also vast: she has attained refuge in the Three Jewels, lacks doubt in the Four Truths, is established in faith and the five spiritual faculties, and has received and upheld the five precepts—all on account of me. If women are to become śramaṇas, they must not transgress the eight rules of respect (aṣṭagurudharma); only if they accept and practice all of them may they enter the Dharma and Vinaya." Ānanda went out and informed her, whereupon she received the Buddha's instruction on the crown of her head. The Buddha also said, "Because of delivering women, my correct Dharma will decrease by five hundred years, and the respect offered by followers of other teachings will gradually decline." The Da fangbian [fo bao'en jing] states: Because the heavenly demon and evil spirits would defame the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, he did not permit their ordination. Ānanda petitioned, saying, "Does the Tathāgata not resemble the past buddhas, possessing all four assemblies?" The Buddha said, "Let them arouse great diligence and cultivate the eight rules of respect. In future ages, all good women who remember Ānanda's kindness, invoke his name, and make offerings to him, Ānanda with great supernatural power will respond to their voices and protect and aid them."