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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Theravāda Collection on Monastic Law The Nuns’ Analysis
The chapter on offenses entailing confession The subchapter on unmarried women 74. Giving ordination while under twelve years’ seniority
Origin story
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. At that time nuns who had less than twelve years of seniority were giving the full admission. They were ignorant and incompetent, and they did not know what was allowable and what was not. And their students too were ignorant and incompetent, and they too did not know what was allowable and what was not.
The nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How can nuns who have less than twelve years of seniority give the full admission?” … “Is it true, monks, that nuns do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “How can nuns do this? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:
Final ruling
‘If a nun who has less than twelve years of seniority gives the full admission, she commits an offense entailing confession.’”
Definitions
A: whoever … Nun: … The nun who has been given the full ordination in unanimity by both Sanghas through a legal procedure consisting of one motion and three announcements that is irreversible and fit to stand—this sort of nun is meant in this case.
Who has less than twelve years of seniority: who has not reached twelve years of seniority. Gives the full admission: gives the full ordination. If, intending to give the full admission, she searches for a group, a teacher, a bowl, or a robe, or she establishes a monastery zone, she commits an offense of wrong conduct.
After the motion, she commits an offense of wrong conduct. After each of the first two announcements, she commits an offense of wrong conduct. When the last announcement is finished, the preceptor commits an offense entailing confession, and the group and the teacher commit an offense of wrong conduct.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if one who has twelve years of seniority gives the full admission; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The fourth training rule is finished.
The “…” is an abbreviation carried over from the Pāli original itself, called peyyāla. The early canon was memorized and recited, so passages repeated verbatim from a preceding discourse were commonly contracted to an elision mark rather than written out in full. Venerable Thích Minh Châu's translation preserves this convention. Some texts therefore look short — but that is the canonical form, not missing content or a truncated translation. The elided passages can be read in full in the preceding discourses of the same chapter.
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