Bi Pc 7777. Not ordaining a trainee after promising
Pāli / Sanskrit:Cīvaradāna-sikkhamānana-vuṭṭhāpana
A nun who promises to ordain a trainee nun in return for robe-cloth but then makes no effort to get her ordained 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 77. Not ordaining a trainee after promising
Origin story
At one time when the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery, a trainee nun went to the nun Thullanandā and asked her for the full ordination. Thullanandā told her, “If you give me a robe, venerable, I’ll give you the full admission.” But she neither gave her the full admission nor made any effort to have her fully admitted.
That trainee nun told the nuns what had happened. The nuns of few desires complained and criticized her, “How could Venerable Thullanandā say that to a trainee nun and then neither give her the full admission nor make any effort to have her fully admitted?” … “Is it true, monks, that the nun Thullanandā did this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked her … “How could the nun Thullanandā act in this way? This will affect people’s confidence …” … “And, monks, the nuns should recite this training rule like this:
Final ruling
‘If a nun tells a trainee nun, “If you give me a robe, venerable, I’ll give you the full admission,” but she then neither gives her the full admission nor makes any effort to have her fully admitted, then, if there were no obstacles, 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. A trainee nun: one who has trained for two years in the six rules. “If you give me a robe, venerable, I’ll give you the full admission”: I’ll give you the full ordination. Then, if there were no obstacles: when there is no obstacle. She neither gives her the full admission: does not herself give her the full admission. Nor makes any effort to have her fully admitted: does not ask anyone else to give her the full ordination.
If she thinks, “I’ll neither give her the full admission nor make any effort to have her fully admitted,” then by the mere fact of abandoning her duty, she commits an offense entailing confession.
Non-offenses
There is no offense: if there is an obstacle; if she searches for someone to give her the full ordination, but is unable to find anyone; if she is sick; if there is an emergency; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The seventh 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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