法苑珠林 45.18

45.18

Furthermore, the Avadānaśataka says: When the Buddha was in the world, in the city of Śrāvastī there was a brāhmaṇa named Brahmā. He possessed wide learning and eloquence, and clearly understood the sūtras and treatises; there were none among the four Vedic scriptures that he did not master. His wife gave birth to a daughter who was exceptionally upright and wondrous, with wisdom and eloquence that none could equal. Hearing the various brāhmaṇas debating with her father, she could retain everything without missing a single word. In this way, as time passed, what she had heard became exceedingly vast; when senior elders all came to consult her, there was nothing she did not comprehend. Hearing that in the world there was a Buddha who had just attained saṃbodhi and was converting living beings, she sought to receive the flavor of the Dharma. She immediately adorned herself and went to the Buddha's place. Seeing the Buddha, she generated the resolve and sought to leave the household life. The Buddha said, "Welcome, bhikṣuṇī!" Her hair fell away of itself, and the kāṣāya was draped upon her body; she became a bhikṣuṇī. Diligently cultivating, she attained the fruit of an arhat.