Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c19.s13.2

v1.c19.s13.2

He, however, as a Teacher, whose watchword was reason, could not withstand the well-reasoned arguments of Ānanda as to how could sex stand in the way of attaining perfection and why should the female sex be deprived of the benefits of the religion.³ Buddha was silenced by Ānanda’s arguments and consented to the formation of the order of nuns though he recognised that such a step was going to shorten the duration of his religion, based as it was on the maintenance of pure morals. In view of the position of women prevailing at that time, several restrictions were imposed on the movements of the nuns, some of which were so humiliating that they brought forth protest from Mahāpajāpati Gotamī though without any effect.