Lzh Mg Bi Pm Pc 97Ordaining Untrained Unmarried Girls
Pāli / Sanskrit:Paripuṇṇavīsativassa-asikkhita-kumāribhūta
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Exposition of the Scripture: "Ordaining a Twenty-Year-Old Female Who Has Not Undergone Training"
Background
This scripture belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda tradition, in which the Buddha and his disciples established rules governing the monastic community of monks and nuns. Buddhist history shows that when the Buddha permitted women to go forth and become nuns, the questions of age and preparation prior to receiving the precepts became a pressing practical matter.
This scriptural passage centers on the case of girls who have not undergone training (asikkhita), who are unmarried (kumāri-bhūta), and who have reached the full age of twenty years (paripuṇṇa-vīsati vassa). This reflects a specific situation: whether such women may be permitted to receive ordination, or whether certain prerequisites must first be established.
Main Content
In accordance with the spirit of the Theravāda Vinaya Piṭaka, the Buddha promulgated rules to protect both the purity of the monastic community and the proper development of those who go forth. For girls who have not undergone training—that is, those who have not yet passed through the basic period of practice as a sikkhamānā, also known as a female probationer—there is a clear principle: they may not directly receive upasampadā ordination (full ordination as a bhikkhunī).
This rule does not arise from discrimination, but from the deep understanding that going forth into the monastic life requires knowledge and psychological preparation. A girl who has never undergone training has no foundation in the Dharma, is unfamiliar with communal discipline, and does not clearly understand the nature of the precept trainings (pañcasīla, sampanna sīla). Therefore, the necessary prerequisite is that she must first be received as a sikkhamānā—a female trainee learning the Dharma—for a prescribed period of time (generally two to four years).
This rule also takes into account legal and ethical factors: a woman who has never been married (kumāri-bhūta) may lack the maturity necessary to make a lifelong commitment to the arduous and pure life of monastic training.
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