[425] The bhikkhunīs (bhikkhunī) said this: "Did we not say that now, today, the exhortation (ovāda) will not be effective? For now Master Cūḷapanthaka will just repeat the same inspired utterance (udāna) again and again."
The Venerable Cūḷapanthaka heard this conversation of those bhikkhunīs. Then the Venerable Cūḷapanthaka, having risen up into the air, walked back and forth in the sky, in the open air; he stood, he sat, and he lay down; he emitted smoke, he blazed with fire, and he vanished — all the while speaking that same inspired utterance and much else of the word of the Buddha.
The bhikkhunīs said this: "Astonishing indeed, sirs! Marvellous indeed, sirs! Never before has an exhortation been so effective for us as that of Master Cūḷapanthaka."
Then the Venerable Cūḷapanthaka, having exhorted those bhikkhunīs until it was quite dark, dismissed them: "Go, sisters." Then those bhikkhunīs, the city gate having been closed, stayed outside the city and entered the city only early the next morning. People complained, criticized, and spread it about: "These bhikkhunīs are not celibate! Having stayed with the bhikkhus in the monastery, they are only now entering the city."
Bhikkhus heard those people complaining, criticizing, and spreading it about. Those bhikkhus who were of few wishes … they complained, criticized, and spread it about: "How can the Venerable Cūḷapanthaka exhort the bhikkhunīs after the sun has set?" …
"Is it true, as they say, Cūḷapanthaka, that you exhort the bhikkhunīs after the sun has set?"
"It is true, Blessed One."
The Buddha, the Blessed One, rebuked him: "How can you, Cūḷapanthaka, exhort the bhikkhunīs after the sun has set? This, Cūḷapanthaka, is not for the confidence of those without confidence …" "And thus, bhikkhus, you should recite this training rule:
'If a bhikkhu, even though authorized (sammata), should exhort bhikkhunīs after the sun has set, there is an offense of pācittiya.'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.