And he told her the principles. She replied, “Just as a young woman or man—someone fond of adornments, who has just washed their hair—would receive a garland of water lilies, jasmine, or sandan flowers with both hands and place it on their head, so too, do I receive these eight important principles, not to be breached for life.”

Ānanda then went to the Buddha, bowed, sat down, and said, “Sir, Mahāpajāpati has accepted the eight important principles. Your aunt is now ordained.” “Ānanda, if women had not been allowed to go forth on this spiritual path proclaimed by the Buddha, the spiritual life would have lasted a long time—the true Teaching would have lasted a thousand years. But now that women have been allowed to go forth, the spiritual life won’t last long—the true Teaching will only last five hundred years.