Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c7.338

v1.c7.338

Ānanda found the women dejected and weeping, with swollen feet, standing outside the Kūtāgārasālā. Having learnt what had happened, he asked the Buddha to grant their request. Three times he asked and three times the Buddha refused. Then he changed his tactics. He inquired of the Buddha if women were at all capable of attaining the Fruits of the Path. The answer was in the affirmative, and Ānanda pushed home the advantage thus gained. In the end the Buddha allowed women to enter the Order subject to certain conditions. They expressed their great gratitude to Ānanda.⁶⁴ In this connection, the Buddha is reported as having said⁶⁵ that had Ānanda not persuaded him to give his consent to the admission of women to the Order, the Sāsana would have lasted a thousand years, but now it would last only five hundred.