Xct Mu Bi Pm Pc 79Ordaining Untrained Unmarried Girls
Pāli / Sanskrit:Paripuṇṇavīsativassa-asikkhita-kumāribhūta
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Interpretation of the Discourse on Ordaining Untrained Unmarried Girls
Context
This discourse belongs to the Vinaya Piṭaka of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, specifically the Bhikkhunī Pātimokkha - the disciplinary rules reserved for bhikkhunīs. The context in which the discourse arose was the Buddha’s establishment of the nuns’ Sangha, the community of female monastics, with the aim of creating a serious foundation for practice and protecting the honor of the Dharma.
When the Buddha was still living, ordaining women who had undergone moral trials was a sensitive matter in ancient Indian society. In order for the nuns’ Sangha to be respected by society and for the women’s monastery to preserve the purity of its conduct, the Buddha first stipulated that only women at least twenty years old, capable of self-control and with understanding of the discipline, could enter ordination and the path of practice of true female monastics.
Main Content
This discourse specifically stipulates that it is not permitted to ordain a girl who is not yet twenty years old and has not previously trained in the Buddha-Dharma, regardless of her status. The term “asikkhita” (untrained) refers to those who have not studied the basic teachings concerning taking refuge in the Three Jewels or lived in a monastic community.
This rule is set forth as a Pācittiya, a confessable offense - if the teacher, monk, or presiding nun ordains such a girl, he or she commits a fault in practice that must be confessed and corrected. This is not an absolute prohibition, but a guideline to protect both the girl herself and the honor of the community.
The deeper reason for this regulation is to ensure that those entering the Sangha possess sufficient wisdom, resolve, and understanding of the path of practice. A girl who is too young or has never studied the Dharma may not have enough intention to observe the strict rules of bhikkhunīs, or may easily be affected by the difficulties of the monastic life.
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