Bi Pc 8282. Ordaining every year
Pāli / Sanskrit:Anuvassa
A nun who gives ordination in consecutive years 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 82. Ordaining every year
Origin story
At one time the Buddha was staying at Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Monastery. At that time the nuns were giving full admission every year, and the nunnery did not have sufficient capacity. People complained and criticized them, “How can the nuns give full admission every year, when the nunnery doesn’t have sufficient capacity?”
The nuns heard the complaints of those people. The nuns of few desires complained and criticized them, “How can the nuns give full admission every year?” … “Is it true, monks, that the nuns do this?”
“It’s true, sir.”
The Buddha rebuked them … “How can the 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 gives full admission every year, 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.
Every year: every twelve-month period. Gives full admission: gives 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 she gives full admission every other year; if she is insane; if she is the first offender.
The twelfth 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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