Lzh Dg Bi Pm Pc 130Ordaining Trained Unmarried Girls Without Approval

Exposition of the Sutta on Allowing a Trained Adult Woman to Go Forth Without Approval

Background

The Vinaya Piṭaka is the collection of disciplinary rules that the Buddha Gotama established for the community of monks and nuns. These rules are not immutable commandments, but flexible guidelines developed in response to specific situations that arose in the earliest community of practice.

This sutta belongs to the Pātimokkha section in the Vinaya Piṭaka, especially the rules concerning the ordination of women (bhikkhunī ordination). The background of the sutta is related to the development of the community of nuns after the Buddha agreed to allow women to go forth in the twentieth year after his awakening.

The title Paripuṇṇavīsativassa-sikkhita-kumāribhūta-asammata means "the ordaining of trained maidens who have completed twenty years, without approval." This is a legal issue within the community of monks and nuns: whether a young woman, even if trained in the Buddha-Dharma, may be ordained without approval from older women or from the Sangha.

Main Content

This sutta deals with a specific case in the Vinaya: the ordination of young women (kumāribhūta), girls who have gone through the period of training (sikkhita) and reached the age of twenty (paripuṇṇavīsativassa), without the approval (asammata) of the bhikkhunī community or of older women.

The Vinaya clearly states that the ordination of women must follow strict procedures. Not everyone who wishes to go forth can be accepted immediately. There must be suitable preparation, sponsors, and most importantly the approval of the bhikkhunī community.

This sutta warns that if a girl is ordained without passing through these steps, especially without approval from the Sangha, that is an act in violation of the rule.