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CONVERSION OF WOMEN
§ 1. Conversion of Mahaprajapati Gotami and Yeshodhara and her Companions
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When the Blessed One had been on a visit to his father’s home the desire to join the Sangh was as keen among the Sakya women as it was among the Sakya men.
The leader of such women was no other than Mahaprajapati Gotami.
Now at the time when the Blessed One was staying among the Sakyas in the Nigrodharama, Mahaprajapati Gotami went to him and said: “It would be well, Lord, if women were allowed to become Parivrajakas and enter the Sangh under the doctrine and discipline proclaimed by the Tathagata !”
“Enough, O Gotami! Let not such a thought come into your mind.” And a second and a third time did Mahaprajapati make the same request in the same words, and a second and a third time did she receive the same reply.
Then Mahaprajapati Gotami, sad and sorrowful, bowed down before the Blessed One, and went away weeping and in tears.
After the Blessed One had left Nigrodharama for his wanderings, Mahaprajapati and the Sakya women sat together to give further consideration to their request for admission to the Sangh and the refusal of the Lord to grant such a request.
The Sakya women refused to take the Lord’s refusal as final. They decided to go further to assume the garb of a Parivrajaka and present the Lord with a fait accompli.
Accordingly Mahaprajapati Gotami cut off her hair and put on orange-coloured robes and set out with a number of women of the Sakya clan, on her journey to meet the Lord who was at that time staying in Vesali in the Mahavana in the Kutagara Hall.
In due course Mahaprajapati Gotami with her companions arrived at Vesali and with swollen feet and covered with dust came to the Kutogara Hall.
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