四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.272

2.272

與年不滿戒六十五。四緣：一是年未滿二十，二知，三與受具，四三法竟犯。《多》云：六十已去，不得受大戒，設師僧強授，亦不得；以不任堪苦行道，心智鈍弱，聽為沙彌。七歲已下亦不許度。未滿二十不得受者，以其輕躁，為寒苦所惱；若受大戒，人多訶責，若是沙彌，人則不訶。《僧祇》：若減七十，不堪造事，臥起須人，是則不許。過七十，減七歲，不應與出家等，廣如上下二卷。律論言有牟盾二情，兩通無損。律中不犯者：先不知，信受戒人語；若旁人證，若信父母語。若受戒後疑者，當數胎中年月，數閏月，一切十四日布薩，以為年數，滿者不犯。開和尚墮，餘人吉羅。今取諸部會通，勘餘曆術，總括明練，廣如大疏。但鈔者為末學之流，余雖明委具張，終恐後人不曉；但通略舉一句，以定昔來謬解。謂取極小沙彌，臘月三十日生，年滿二十，正月一日受者，實年十八歲二日。便以胎、閏等緣增之，則正年二十，猶長五月一日也。此長含虛增月，約實退減。年十九歲，年月俱不滿者，至八月九日前受，是不滿二十，是罪無戒；九日後受，無罪有戒。然諸國用曆不同，此唐國內亦有六七家曆法；且據一家，如上略述，自餘易緯律曆，故不重申。至如諸部不滿得戒，具如《戒疏》所述。

Precept Sixty-five: Conferring [the upasampadā] on one under the required age. Four conditions: first, being under twenty years of age; second, knowing [this]; third, conferring the full precepts on him; fourth, the offense is incurred upon concluding the third karman. The Sarvāstivāda-vinaya-vibhāṣā states: "From sixty years of age onward, one may not receive the full precepts; even if the master and saṃgha forcibly confer them, it is still not obtained, because he is incapable of the austerities of the path and his mental faculties are dull and weak; he is permitted to become a śrāmaṇera. Those of seven years and below are also not permitted to be ordained. The reason why one under twenty years of age may not receive them is that such a person is flighty and agitated, and distressed by cold and hardship; if he were to receive the full precepts, people would frequently scold and reprove him, whereas if he is a śrāmaṇera, people will not scold him." The Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya states: "If one is under seventy years of age but incapable of handling work and requires assistance to lie down and get up, he is not permitted. Those over seventy or under seven should not be allowed to leave household life, and so forth," as explained in detail in the upper and lower fascicles. The statements in the Vinaya and treatises appear contradictory, but both are valid and without defect. Exceptions in the Vinaya: not knowing beforehand, believing the words of the candidate; or having bystanders testify, or believing the words of the parents. If one has doubts after the ordination, one should calculate the months and years in the womb, calculate intercalary months, and count every fourteen-day upoṣadha toward the tally of years; if the number is full, it is not an offense. If not, the upādhyāya incurs a pāyattika, and the rest incur a duṣkṛta. Now, harmonizing the various traditions and consulting other calendrical calculations, a comprehensive and clear explanation is given in detail in the Great Commentary. However, this manual is meant for beginners; although I could lay it out with complete clarity and detail, I fear later people would still fail to understand; thus I shall simply give a general statement in brief to rectify former erroneous interpretations. That is, take an extremely young śrāmaṇera, born on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month; when he turns twenty and receives the precepts on the first day of the first month, his actual age is eighteen years and two days. If one then adds the gestation period, intercalary months, and other factors, then at the exact age of twenty, there is still an excess of five months and one day. This excess contains artificially added months, which when calculated according to actuality must be subtracted. If one is nineteen years old, with neither years nor months being complete, receiving them before the ninth day of the eighth month means one is under twenty, which constitutes an offense with no precepts obtained; receiving them after the ninth day is without offense and the precepts are obtained. However, different countries use different calendars, and within this land of Tang there are also six or seven systems of astronomy and calendars; relying provisionally on one system, as briefly related above, the rest from the changes, apocrypha, and calendrical systems are therefore not restated. As for whether one obtains the precepts when underage according to various schools, it is fully stated in the Commentary on the Precepts.