They then continued on to Sāvatthī and told the nuns there what had happened. The nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How could a nun cross a river by herself?” They told the monks, who in turn told the Buddha. Soon afterwards he had the Sangha gathered and questioned the monks: “Is it true, monks, that a nun did this?” “It’s true, sir.” The Buddha rebuked them … “How could a nun do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And so, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:

Second preliminary ruling ‘If a nun walks to the next inhabited area by herself or crosses a river by herself, then that nun too has committed an immediate offense entailing sending away and suspension.’”

In this way the Buddha laid down this training rule for the nuns.

Third substory On one occasion a number of nuns were walking through the Kosalan country on their way to Sāvatthī, when one evening they arrived at a certain village. One of the nuns was beautiful and graceful, and a certain man fell in love with her as soon as he saw her. Then, as he was preparing sleeping places for those nuns, he prepared hers to one side. And that nun thought, “This man is obsessed with me. If I go there for the night, I’ll get into trouble.” Then, without informing the nuns, she went to a certain family and slept there. When night arrived, that man went searching for that nun, and as he did so he bumped into the other nuns. Not seeing that nun anywhere, the nuns said, “No doubt she has left with a man.”