毘尼心 1.13.2

1.13.2

[Ordination at] twelve [years after] having married is restricted to the community of bhikṣuṇīs. Ordination by the supreme Dharma applies to both the communities of bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs; at present, if someone attains arhatship, they also obtain the designation of ordination by the supreme Dharma. Only the single method of karman has its teaching apply to both ordinary persons and nobles, and extends to both bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs; encompassing the present and the future, one must know whether the ritual acts are valid or invalid, and therefore it is explained at length relying on the various traditions.
Question: With how many conditions fulfilled is ordination by karman considered compliant with the Dharma?
Answer: According to the Mahāsāṃghika-vinaya, when six conditions are fulfilled, it becomes compliant with the Dharma. What are the six? First, the ordinand must be fully twenty years of age and equipped with the three robes and bowl. Second, the ordinand's person must be free of the thirteen obstacles. Third, the establishment of the boundary must be completed. Fourth, the bhikṣus within the boundary must all assemble without a factional gathering. Fifth, the karman recitation must have neither addition nor subtraction. Sixth, the ten bhikṣus must be complete in number, compliant with the Dharma, and pure. When endowed with these six conditions, it is called compliant with the Dharma. If even one among the six is lacking, the ordination is not achieved.
Question: What is meant by being fully twenty years of age?
Answer: The Mahāsāṃghika says: One must be fully twenty years of age; fully twenty years of age means having completed twenty rainy seasons. If one is twenty years of age but has not completed twenty rainy seasons, one does not obtain the precepts. As long as the rainy seasons are complete, one may receive ordination. If one was born in the winter and receives ordination when the summer retreat has ended, this is called not being fully twenty. If one was born in the spring and receives ordination when the retreat has ended, this is called being fully twenty. If one was born during the earlier retreat and receives ordination when the earlier retreat has ended, or was born during the later retreat and receives ordination when the later retreat has ended, this is called being fully twenty. In the school of the Dharmaguptaka, twelve months make one year; when one reaches twenty, taking the month of one's birth, all are called fully twenty and obtain the upasampadā. In the school of the Mahāsāṃghika, passing through twenty complete rainy seasons allows one to obtain the upasampadā; for example, one born in the twelfth month, upon reaching twenty [calendar years], has only passed through eighteen rainy seasons, and thus is called not full. In this manner, one must complete twenty summers, and only then may one receive ordination. Yet the matter of receiving ordination is weighty, being the foundation of pravrajyā. If the fundamental procedure is not completed, then one is not a bhikṣu, having no difference from a layperson. Receiving the faithful donations of others and their prostrations are all called theft, incurring boundless guilt. If someone is definitively known to have received ordination when underage, even though a hundred years pass, they are still like a śrāmaṇera; they should not receive the veneration of senior bhikṣus nor receive the donations of the faithful, but must be ordained anew.
Question: Since this person has already undergone poṣadha and karman since being ordained, why are they permitted to receive ordination again?
Answer: This person had the intention of having received the upasampadā when listening to the karman and poṣadha, so it was not with a mind of theft; therefore the Dharmaguptaka allows them to receive ordination again. The Mahāsāṃghika says: If one does not know one's age, one should ask one's parents and relatives; if they still do not know, one should check the birth register board. If there is no such thing, one should observe whether their facial features, hands, and feet are mature or not. If one still does not know, one should ask which king, which year, whether the land was bountiful or lean, droughts, floods, and the like, though this does not apply to all; at such times when it is difficult to know, inquiring into each one, if it is truly unknown, even if the hands and feet are mature, upon reaching twenty, one still does not obtain the precepts.
Question: The Dharmaguptaka says that if one is not fully twenty, it is permitted to count the months in the womb, leap months, and the like; what does this mean?
Answer: There was someone who, when first receiving ordination, thought that they were fully twenty years of age; only after receiving ordination did they learn that they were not, and harbouring doubts, questioned the Buddha. The Buddha said: It is permitted to count the months in the womb and to count leap months; if one counts all the fourteenth-day precept recitations to make up the number of years, there is no transgression. This is the Great Sage's allowance and restriction for obtaining the precepts. According to the state laws of this realm, there are two leap months every five years; the Daśabhāṇavāra says King Bimbisāra had one leap month every six years; the Mahīśāsaka says one leap month every five years; it is not known which one should be taken as definitive.
Question: Without robes and bowl, may one receive ordination or not? The Dharmaguptaka says that without robes and bowl, one cannot receive ordination. It is asked again: Borrowing robes and bowl, may one receive ordination or not?
Answer: The Mahīśāsaka says: For one who borrows robes, the owner of the robes should be instructed to relinquish them, and then one may receive ordination.
The Vinaya-vibhāṣā-śāstra asks: Does one obtain the precepts without robes and bowl? It answers: Yes. If so, why are robes and bowl necessary? It answers: First, for deportment; second, to engender goodness in onlookers; third, to mark a distinctive appearance; hence robes and bowl must be complete.
As for the second, having no obstacles in one's person: why must they be asked?
Answer: The thirteen obstacles are driven by the three obstructions, cutting one off from the noble path and hindering the precepts from arising; they are named obstacles, and therefore must be asked about.
It is asked again: What are the names and meanings of the thirteen obstacles?
Answer: First, the obstacle of an extreme offense. This person formerly received the upasampadā, committed a pārājika, and was expelled by the Saṅgha; thereafter they sought pravrajyā again, but are excluded outside the community, called an extreme obstruction, and the precepts do not arise, hence it is called an obstacle. Second, the obstacle of defiling the pure conduct of a bhikṣuṇī. From pravrajyā onward, not committing sexual misconduct is called pure conduct; if one defiled them when a layperson, it is not an obstacle. Third, the obstacle of receiving ordination with a thief's mind. This person, without a master, shaved their own hair and beard, wore the kāṣāya, and without receiving ordination joined others in poṣadha and karman, stealing the Buddhadharma, hence it is called a thief's mind; if the lower three assemblies eavesdrop on the recitation of the precepts and karman, falsely associating with Saṅgha affairs, they also commit this. Fourth, the obstacle of breaking between internal and external paths. This person was formerly a non-Buddhist, went forth and received ordination, but afterward, without relinquishing [the precepts], returned to non-Buddhist paths; their mind of wrong views being heavy, they naturally lose the precepts; if they wish to seek pravrajyā and ordination in the Buddhadharma again, it is called an obstacle. Fifth, the obstacle of a paṇḍaka. This person by nature has many afflictions and lacks the ability to maintain the precepts; their affliction-obstruction being heavy, the upasampadā does not arise, hence it is called an obstacle. Sixth, the obstacle of matricide; seventh, the obstacle of patricide: a layperson killing father or killing mother, violating deep gratitude, obstructs and prevents the precepts from arising. Eighth, killing an arhat: while a layperson, killing a bhikṣu whose complexion did not change when dying. Ninth, the obstacle of causing a schism in the Saṅgha: recklessly expounding false teachings or disordering the feelings of the multitude, within the same boundary conducting separate ritual acts and destroying the Buddhadharma, doing so intentionally, hence it is called an obstacle. Tenth, the obstacle of maliciously shedding the Buddha's blood. This person employed means wishing to kill the Buddha but was unable to end his life, harming the holy body, violating principle deeply, incurring a grave anantarya crime; nowadays, in the final age, burning and destroying vihāras, images, or relics, if one sees an auspicious sign, one also incurs an anantarya crime and cannot receive ordination, hence it is called an obstacle. Eleventh, the obstacle of a non-human: if a ghost or deva transforms into human form wishing to receive the upasampadā, it is called the obstacle of a non-human. Twelfth, the obstacle of an animal: if a nāga or fox transforms into human form, one must not bestow ordination on them. Thirteenth, the obstacle of having two faculties: this person in a single body possesses both male and female faculties, having no place among either the bhikṣu or bhikṣuṇī communities, hence it is called an obstacle.