四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 2.272

2.272

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.