第一次的佛教結集是佛教聖典文獻 (即巴利文聖典) 的起源，結集內容詳載於比丘與比丘尼的僧團戒法中。在王舍城所召開的第一次結集會議，其本質並非如其向來所聲稱的：將佛陀的言論編集成聖典，以防佛教未來走上腐敗，乃至衰亡之途;而是想要壓制那群曾在宣教事業上展現高度活力與成就的尼眾。王舍城結集出現了要求尼泉必須終身奉持的八敬法，由於八敬法高度歧視女性，遵循這些法條之後，比丘尼僧團的力量逐漸衰弱，最後終於導致印度佛教的式微與沒落。當我們把一些耆那教的經文和印度教的法典，以及佛教聖典的許多段落，一併拿來進行比對時，我們會發現，在敘述仁丘尼僧團之起源的故事中，有關八敬法的部分，實際上是在佛陀去世後不久被插補進去的。第一次結集的成員雖然被譽為聖者，但他們仍然比較像是奉行婆羅門律法的忠實信徒，而非佛教的托缽僧，在此之前，這群朋於佛陀允許女眾可像男眾一樣受戒出家的作法，是很不滿意的。因此，第一次結集的真正意圖，並非如傳統所聲稱的欲令正法久住，而是要將尼眾的地位邊緣化。

The First Buddhist Council is traditionally seen as the origin of Buddhist canonical literature, the Tipitaka. The details of the Council are described in a section in the monastic code for Buddhist monks and nuns. Close examination of the account of the First Council, and the comparison of that account with numerous passages throughout the Tipitaka, and with Brahmanical texts and traditions, reveals serious contradictions and an unstated agenda. It appears that those who called for and attended the First Council (or those who wrote its story) were most likely faithful followers of Brahmanical law who were dissatisfied with the Buddha’s instruction that women were to be ordained as equals to men. The focus of the account of the council meeting; the charges made against Ānanda (half of which center on women, and concern violations of Brahmanical law, but not violations of Buddhist Dharma or Vinaya); the fact that the First Council ignored the Buddha’s instructions that the entire Saligha should meet together to set down the Dharma and Vinaya, and that the Dharma (not any individual person) should become the Saligha’s leader after his death; as well as considerable other evidence found throughout the Tipitaka, all strongly suggest that one of the primary motives of the First Council or its writers was to marginalize and disempower Ānanda and the nuns, who emerge in the texts as having been especially active and important in the promotion of Buddhism.