Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 123Ordaining Untrained Candidate

– FOUR-PART VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 123

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Bhagavān was dwelling in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, at the city of Śrāvastī. At that time, the bhikkhunīs heard that the Blessed One had laid down a rule permitting the ordination of a girl of eighteen years of age, allowing her two years of training in the precepts and in the six principles, and upon reaching twenty years of age, allowing her to receive full ordination. Some bhikkhunīs, without conferring the six principles, proceeded to grant full ordination. When that woman underwent the training in precepts, she engaged in impure conduct, stole five coins, took a human life, falsely claimed attainment of a superhuman state, ate after midday, and drank alcohol.

The bhikkhunīs heard of this; among them were those who were of few desires, who knew contentment, who practiced the austere dhūta qualities, who delighted in training in the precepts, and who possessed a sense of shame and remorse. They reproached those bhikkhunīs, saying: "The Blessed One has laid down a rule permitting a girl of eighteen years of age to be given two years of training in the precepts and in the six principles, and upon reaching twenty years of age, to receive full ordination. Why did you not teach them the six principles before granting full ordination, so that they came to violate the pure conduct, steal five coins, and so forth down to drinking alcohol?"

The nuns reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus went and reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this, assembled the community of bhikkhus and rebuked those bhikkhunīs:

"What you have done is wrong, improper, not in keeping with the deportment of monastics, not in accord with the Dharma of śramaṇas, not pure conduct, not fitting behavior—it is something that should not be done. Bhikkhunīs, for a girl of eighteen years of age, you should allow two years of training in the precepts and in the six principles, and upon reaching twenty years of age, allow her to receive full ordination. Why did you not confer the six principles, causing them to violate the precept of sexual misconduct… and so forth down to drinking alcohol?"

Having rebuked them by means of countless expedient methods, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"These bhikkhunīs are a field sown with many seeds of the tainted, and they are the first to violate this rule. From this day forward, I shall lay down a rule for the bhikkhunīs, encompassing ten principles of meaning, up to and including the perpetual abiding of the true Dharma."

The rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī, having given a girl of eighteen years of age two years of training in the precepts but without conferring the six principles, then proceeds to grant full ordination—pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

If a sikkhāmānā commits sexual misconduct, she is to be expelled. If, with a defiled mind, she comes into bodily contact with a man who also has a defiled mind, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again. If she steals five coins or more than five coins, she is to be expelled.

If she takes less than five coins, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again. If she takes a human life, she is to be expelled. If she takes the life of an animal, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again.

If she falsely claims attainment of a superhuman state, she is to be expelled. If she deliberately speaks a false statement in the assembly, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again. If she eats at an improper time, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again.

If she drinks alcohol, her precepts are vitiated and she must receive them again.

Whatever bhikkhunī gives a girl of eighteen years of age two years of training in the precepts but without conferring the six principles, and upon her reaching twenty years of age grants full ordination—when the third kammavācā has been proclaimed, the preceptor bhikkhunī incurs a pācittiya. When the second kammavācā has been proclaimed, three duṣkṛtas. When the first kammavācā has been proclaimed, two duṣkṛtas. When the motion has been completed, one duṣkṛta. When the motion has not yet been completed, one duṣkṛta. Before the motion is made—assembling the community, completing the quorum—all incur duṣkṛtas.

A bhikkhu incurs a duṣkṛta. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: if a girl of eighteen years of age has undergone two years of training in the precepts, has been given the six principles, and is then granted full ordination—there is no offense.

Those who do not offend: one who transgresses for the first time before the rule has been laid down; one who is insane, of disturbed mind, or afflicted with pain and distress.

Vietnamese translation: Bhikkhu Thích Đỗng Minh and Thích Đức Thắng. FOUR-PART VINAYA, PART ONE.

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng.

(Chinese translation, volumes 1–21; Vietnamese translation, volumes 1–2)

Buddhist Studies Publication Committee, 2002.