Bi Pc 7474. Giving ordination while under twelve years’ seniority
Pāli / Sanskrit:Ūnadvādasavassa
A nun with insufficient seniority who gives ordination must confess the offense.
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Commentary on Bhikkhunī Pc 74: Giving Ordination While Under Twelve Years' Seniority
Background
This rule appears in the Pātimokkha for bhikkhunīs (nuns), an important part of the Vinaya Piṭaka in the Theravāda tradition. Ūnadvādasavassa means "under twelve years of time" or "lacking twelve years of seniority" (vassa). Vassa is the unit of training reckoned along the fivefold path of the Buddha's teaching, counted from the day of formal ordination.
Within the Buddhist monastic community, the giving of ordination to others is a responsibility of the utmost gravity. A preceptress (upajjhāyinī or ācārinī) must possess sufficient experience, wisdom, and virtue to guide those who are newly entering the path of practice. For this reason, the Buddha laid down the necessary conditions for a nun to be able to undertake this duty. One of the essential conditions is that she must have completed twelve years of seniority within the Sangha of nuns.
This text records the case in which a nun who had not yet fulfilled this period of practice nonetheless proceeded to confer ordination, thereby giving rise to a transgression of the rule. This is a Pācittiya offence — a category of fault requiring public confession before the community.
Main Content
According to the Buddha's regulation, a nun may become a preceptress and give ordination to others only after having completed at least twelve years of seniority. This period of time is not arbitrary but has a clear purpose: to allow the practitioner sufficient time to thoroughly understand the Dharma, to train the mind, to develop wisdom, and to build a firm and virtuous character.
If a nun who has not yet completed twelve years of seniority proceeds to give ordination to another, this action is regarded as a Pācittiya transgression. This does not mean that the ordination itself is entirely null and void, but the offender must bear the consequence of confessing the fault before the community of nuns. This confession is public and formal in nature, and is an expression of the acknowledgment of wrongdoing and the resolve to correct oneself.
This rule reflects the profound philosophy of Buddhism concerning the quality and responsibility entailed in the transmission of the Dharma.
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