Lzh Dg Bi Vb Pc 126Ordaining Trained Married Girls Without Approval

– DHARMAGUPTAKA VINAYA

– PĀCITTIYA

RULE 126

A. ORIGIN STORY

At one time, the Blessed One was staying in the garden of Anāthapiṇḍika, in the Jeta Grove, at the city of Śrāvastī. At that time, the bhikkhunīs had heard that the Blessed One had laid down a rule permitting the ordination of a woman ten years of age who had previously been married: she was to be given two years of training in the precepts, and upon reaching the full age of twelve, she was to be given full ordination. The bhikkhunīs then ordained women who were blind, lame, deaf, and afflicted with various other ailments, thereby causing the Saṅgha to be criticized and reviled.

Among the bhikkhunīs, those who were of few desires and contentment, who practiced the dhūta qualities, who delighted in training in the precepts, and who possessed a sense of shame and remorse, reproached those bhikkhunīs, saying: "The Blessed One has laid down a rule permitting the ordination of a woman ten years of age who has previously been married, allowing her two years of training in the precepts, and upon reaching the full age of twelve, permitting her to receive full ordination. Why do you ordain women who are blind, deaf, and afflicted with various other ailments, thereby causing the Saṅgha to be criticized and reviled?"

The bhikkhunīs went and reported the matter to the bhikkhus. The bhikkhus then reported it to the Blessed One. The Blessed One, on account of this matter, convened a gathering of the bhikkhu Saṅgha and rebuked those bhikkhunīs:

"What you have done is wrong, unbefitting, unworthy of a contemplative, impure, and not in accord with proper conduct — it is something that should not have been done. The Blessed One has laid down a rule permitting bhikkhunīs to ordain a woman ten years of age who has previously been married, to give her two years of training in the precepts, and upon reaching the full age of twelve, to give her full ordination. Why do you ordain women who are blind, deaf, and afflicted with various other ailments, thereby causing the Saṅgha to be criticized and reviled?"

Having rebuked them with many methods of instruction, the Buddha said to the bhikkhus:

"From this day forward, full ordination is to be conferred by means of the ñatti-catuttha-kamma, and it should be administered as follows: Lead the candidate for ordination to a place within sight but out of hearing … up to the statement:

"'I have completed the instruction.'

"Permission is likewise given to call her in, as above.

"When she has entered the midst of the Saṅgha, the preceptor bhikkhunī makes the formal announcement and questions her regarding the impediments, proceeding through the ñatti-catuttha-kamma as above, and full ordination is conferred in the midst of the great Saṅgha. All of this is as stated above, and is identical with the procedure for a virgin of eighteen years of age.

"From this day forward, I lay down this rule for the bhikkhunīs, for ten reasons, up to the statement: for the enduring of the true Dharma."

The rule should be stated as follows:

Whatever bhikkhunī gives a young woman who has previously been married two years of training in the precepts, and upon reaching the full age of twelve, confers full ordination upon her without first making the formal announcement to the Saṅgha — a pācittiya.

B. ANALYSIS OF THE RULE

Bhikkhunī: as explained above.

Whatever bhikkhunī gives a young woman who has previously been married two years of training in the precepts, and upon reaching the full age of twelve, confers full ordination upon her without making the formal announcement to the Saṅgha — upon completion of three kamma-vācās, the preceptor bhikkhunī incurs a pācittiya; upon completion of two kamma-vācās, three dukkaṭas; upon completion of one kamma-vācā, two dukkaṭas; upon completion of the formal announcement, one dukkaṭa; if the formal announcement is not yet completed, a dukkaṭa; before the formal announcement has been made, if the assembly has been convened and the quorum is complete, all incur a dukkaṭa.

For a bhikkhu, a dukkaṭa. This is called an offense.

Non-offense: If a woman who has previously been married has reached the age of twelve, and the formal announcement is made to the Saṅgha before the conferral of full ordination, there is no offense.

Those who are not guilty of an offense: one who commits the act for the first time before the rule has been laid down; one who is insane; one whose mind is disordered; one who is overcome by acute pain and distress.

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

Chinese translation: Tripiṭaka masters Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian.

Revised and annotated: Bhikkhu Thích Nguyên Chứng

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

Buddhist Publication Committee, 2002