Bi Pc 7272. Ordaining an untrained unmarried woman
Pāli / Sanskrit:Paripuṇṇavīsativassa-asikkhita-kumāribhūta
A nun who ordains an unmarried girl who has not completed her training must confess the offense.
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Bi Pc 72: On Ordaining an Untrained Female Novice Who Has Not Completed Training
Background
This text belongs to the Pātimokkha of the monastic community of nuns, also referred to as the "eight-hundred rules" in the Theravāda tradition. The Vinaya Piṭaka records in detail the regulations concerning ordination and the administration of the monastic community of monks and nuns. The rules regarding the upasampada ordination of female monastics are examined with great care in Theravāda Buddhism, as they concern spiritual readiness, the capacity to observe the Vinaya rules, and the stability of the community.
The Pāli phrase "Paripuṇṇavīsativassa-asikkhita-kumāribhūta" specifies the conditions precisely: the candidate must be a woman (kumāri) who has not yet reached the full age of twenty (vīsativassa) and who has not completed the training period (asikkhita). Bi Pc 72 stipulates that a bhikkhunī is not permitted to lead such a person into full ordination as a bhikkhunī.
Main Content
According to the historical formation of the monastic Sangha in Buddhism, the Buddha required rigorous standards before permitting a woman to enter the order as a disciple. First, the woman must have completed the period of training as a sikkhamānā (a female novice training in the preliminary precepts), during which she learns ethical conduct and undergoes mental training. This period proceeds under a number of specific conditions.
The rule Bi Pc 72 makes clear that if a bhikkhunī ordains a woman who has not yet fulfilled these conditions—particularly one who has not completed the required training—that bhikkhunī must publicly confess her offense (paṭidesanīya—an offense requiring acknowledgment). This is not the most serious category of transgression in the Vinaya of the nuns' order, but it nevertheless requires a formal acknowledgment of the fault.
The act of ordination is a witness-act of the entire monastic community, not a decision of any individual. Accordingly, the bhikkhunī who leads a candidate into ordination must ensure that all conditions have been fully met.
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