Lzh Mg Bi Pm Pc 102Ordaining Untrained Married Girls

The Sutta on the Ordination of Women Who Are Untrained and Still Living as Householders

Background

This text belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, found specifically among the rules concerning the validity and conditions of ordination for women (bhikkhunī). During the early period of the Buddhist Saṅgha, the regulations governing the selection and training of female monastics were developed in a systematic and highly rigorous manner, in order to protect the true Dharma as well as the dignity of the monastic community.

The background of this text concerns disputes or questions that arose when women of complex social circumstances—specifically those who were married or still embedded within a family structure—wished to enter the teaching. The question posed was: could a woman who still maintained a marital connection, or who had not yet undergone the necessary period of preliminary training (asikkhita) required to prepare the mind before becoming a bhikkhunī, be permitted to receive ordination?

Main Content

This text establishes that a woman who has not received sufficient preliminary training according to the preparatory rules, and who remains in the status of "gihigata" (one who still lives as a householder, having a family), cannot lawfully be permitted to receive full ordination as a bhikkhunī. This reflects the fundamental principle within the Vinaya that the transition from secular household life to the monastic life must be a clear and complete process.

These regulations were established to ensure that any woman wishing to become a monastic must first undergo a period of preliminary training (asikkhita-sādhikā or sikkhara) lasting at least twelve years (dvādasa-vassa), during which she would study the basic ethical principles and prepare herself mentally for the monastic life. Furthermore, she must be entirely separated from any marital or secular family connection.