འདལ་བ་གཞ notes.1.152
The Chapter on Going Forth; The Chapter on the Restoration Rite; The Chapter on Lifting Restrictions; The Chapter on the Rains; The Chapter on Medicines notes.1.152
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notes.1.152
152. The translation follows Kalyāṇamitra’s commentary, which states that gnas btsal is short for gnas kyi slob dpon btsal (Kalyāṇamitra, folio 277.b.5). As related above, the Buddha decreed that newly ordained monks were not allowed to live independently until they had passed ten years as a monk and possessed one of the twenty-one sets of five qualities described above. Until that time, they were obliged to live as wards of, or apprentices to, a “refuge.” To accept charge of monk apprentices and journeymen, a monk must himself be “a refuge” (Tib. gnas, Skt. niśraya), meaning that he has been ordained at least five or ten years without incurring an offense, and “knowledgeable” (Tib. mkhas, Skt. kuśāla / kovidā), meaning he has at least one of the twenty-one sets of five qualities described in this section. Such a monk is said to have “the qualities of stability and skill” (Tib. brtan mkhas kyi yon tan; see Nyima, 2009, p. 468–70 and Kalyāṇamitra, folio 271.a.5–6). It is probably relevant to note that the qualities of being a refuge may be implied in the Tibetan translation of sthavira or “elder,” gnas brtan.