1. Now Mahâ-pagâpatî the Gotamî went up to the place where the venerable Ânanda was, and bowed down before him, and stood respectfully on one side.
[paragraph continues] And, so standing, Mahâ-pagâpatî the Gotamî said to the venerable Ânanda: 'One thing, Ânanda, would I ask of the Blessed One. It were well, Sir, if the Blessed One would allow the making of salutations, the rising up in presence of another, the paying of reverence, and the performance of proper duties one towards another, to take place as between both Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunîs (equally) according to seniority.'
And the venerable Ânanda went to the Blessed One [and repeated her words to him].
'This is impossible, Ânanda, and unallowable, that I should so order. Even those others, Ânanda, teachers of ill doctrine, allow not such conduct towards women; how much less, then, can the Tathâgata allow it?'
And the Blessed One, on that occasion, having delivered a religious discourse, addressed the Bhikkhus, and said: 'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to bow down before women, to rise up in their presence, to stretch out your joined hands towards them, nor to perform towards them those duties that are proper (from an inferior to a superior). Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkata.'