Lzh Mi Bi Vb Pc 195Giving Ordination the Next Day After Training for Two Years

Discourse on Allowing Ordination the Day After Two Years of Training

Background

This rule is recorded in the Vinaya Piṭaka, the disciplinary section of the Buddhist Sangha, specifically among the regulations concerning admission and ordination. During the Buddha’s lifetime, the Sangha needed a clear system for managing those who wished to study the Dharma. One of the central questions was: after how long a period of training would a sāmaṇera or female novice be qualified to receive ordination as a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī?

This regulation reflects a balance between two needs: on the one hand, the Sangha had to ensure that candidates for ordination had sufficient preparation in ethics, wisdom, and understanding of the Dharma; on the other hand, it should not be so strict as to obstruct those of sincere faith. The two-year period of training was regarded as a reasonable point of balance in the context of the early Sangha community.

Main Content

According to this regulation, a novice who has trained for two complete years may be admitted to ordination as a bhikkhu on the following day. This does not mean that ordination is carried out immediately upon the completion of two years; rather, one waits until the next day, expressing solemnity and care in this legal procedure.

Two years of training (dve vassāni sikkhanta) is the period necessary for a novice to master the foundations of the Dhamma-Vinaya. During this time, the person must train in rules leading to welfare (abhinīharaṇīyā sīlā), restraint of the faculties (indriya-saṃvara), noble eating, wakefulness and clarity, and essential moral qualities. They need to learn the basic disciplinary rules by heart, understand the meaning of the Dharma passages, and develop faith (saddhā), energy (viriya), and mindfulness (sati).

Immediately after the completion of two years, on the following day, the Sangha may carry out the ordination ceremony (upasaṃpadā).