Lzh Mi Bi Vb Pc 127Ordain One With Debt or Illness
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ordain one with debt or illness
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Scripture: Ordaining a Person with Debt or Illness
Background
This scripture belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda tradition, expressing detailed regulations on the conditions for receiving a person into renunciation. Early Buddhism regards the Vinaya Piṭaka as the backbone of the Sangha community, ensuring the purity and stability of the community of practitioners. Regulations on ordination, the admission into renunciation, are careful standards laid down by Śākyamuni Buddha to protect both the individual and the collective.
This scripture specifically addresses a practical situation in ancient Indian society: whether a person who must repay debt or is afflicted by illness may be received into the Sangha. This question is not trivial, for it is directly related to the stability of the Sangha, the honor of the community, and the interests of those who have faith in the Buddha-Dharma.
Main Content
According to the rule in the Vinaya, a person with unpaid debt should not be received into renunciation. The main reason is that when a person still owes another, they are bound by worldly obligations. These bonds create a conflict between the pure and independent life of practice in the Sangha and worldly duties. In addition, if creditors follow them into the monastery and demand repayment, this disturbs the community of practice.
Similarly, a person with serious illness should also not be ordained, not from rejection, but for practical reasons: the sick person needs special medical care that the Sangha cannot fully provide; illness may spread in a community living together; and the sick person will have difficulty observing the Vinaya and practicing meditation.
However, this regulation is not absolute. The Vinaya Piṭaka permits certain exceptions: if the debt is paid or forgiven by the creditor before ordination, then there is no longer a problem. Regarding illness, if the person is able to care for themselves and the disease is not dangerously contagious, the elders may give more long-term consideration.
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