Page:Gospel of Buddha.djvu/121

 "Consider, Ānanda, how gredt a benefactress Pajāpatī has been. She is the sister of the mother of the Blessed One, and as foster-mother and nurse, reared the Blessed One after the death of his mother. So, Ānanda, women may retire from household life to the homeless state, under the doctrine and discipline announced by the Tathāgata."

Pajapati was the first woman to become a disciple of the Buddha and to receive the ordination as a bhikkhunl.

The bhikkhus came to the Blessed One and asked him:

"O Tathāgata, our Lord and Master, what conduct toward women dost thou prescribe to the samanas who have left the world?"

And the Blessed One said:

"Guard against looking on a woman.

"If ye see a woman, let it be as though ye saw her not, and have no conversation with her.

"If, after all, ye must speak with her, let it be with a pure heart, and think to yourself, 'I as a samana will live in this sinful world as the spotless leaf of the lotus, unsoiled by the mud in which it grows.'

"If the woman be old, regard her as your mother, if young, as your sister, if very young, as your child.

"The samana who looks on a woman as a woman, or touches her as a woman, has broken his vow and is no longer a disciple of the Tathagata.

"The power of lust is great with men, and is to be feared withal; take then the bow of earnest perseverance, and the sharp arrow-points of wisdom.

"Cover your heads with the helmet of right thought, and fight with fixed resolve against the five desires.

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