Lzh Mu Bi Pm Pc 115Ordaining Married Girls Under Twenty
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ūnavīsativassa-kumāribhūta
Save your scripture progress
Create a free account to save scriptures, track progress, and continue your daily learning path.
Scripture Commentary: A Bhikkhunī Under Twenty Years Old Who Is Married
Background
This scripture belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka, especially the Pācittiya section of the Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga, the training rules for bhikkhunīs, female monastics. In the Buddha’s time, the order of the monastic community was of the highest importance. The Vinaya Piṭaka was compiled to protect the purity of the Sangha, the monastic community, and to maintain the highest ethical standards.
The historical background of this scripture concerns early disputes about the conditions under which women could go forth. When the Buddha allowed the establishment of the bhikkhunī community, he established strict rules to ensure that those entering the religious life did not do so in order to flee social responsibilities or complex situations in worldly life. The Ūnavīsativassa-kumāribhūta scripture concerns a specific situation: whether a woman under twenty years old and already a wife could be allowed to go forth.
Main Content
According to the Vinaya tradition, the basic rule concerning the conditions for women’s ordination includes certain requirements regarding age, marital status, and family consent. For a girl under twenty years old (ūnavīsativassa) who is nevertheless a wife (kumāribhūta), the matter becomes more complex.
This scripture states that if a woman under twenty years of age who is already married wishes to go forth, this is not permitted without her husband’s consent. The basic reason is that the husband has legal rights in worldly society, and the wife’s entrance into the religious life without his consent would cause legal and social disputes. This is not solely a matter of spiritual practice, but a matter of responsibility and respect for a socially recognized relationship.
Even if that girl wishes to seek the path of liberation through the Buddha-Dharma, the Vinaya Piṭaka affirms that the practice of the five precepts, the basic five precepts, is entirely possible for someone in such a situation.
🌏 The Buddhist canon is vast — some sūtras (such as comparative Vinaya across schools, or untranslated Tibetan-canon texts) have to this day NEVER been translated into Vietnamese or English by anyone, scholars included. Rather than leave it blank, Inti AI offers a FAITHFUL summary grounded in the tradition — from the sūtra's title, origin and essence — so you can still reach this rare part of the treasury. Whenever an original translation exists, the app shows the original first.
Translations belong to the translator/source credited above. The bilingual compilation, presentation, and AI translations compiled by Inti are © Inti Foundation. Please attribute when quoting; do not bulk-copy or use commercially without permission.