Confession 117

The 117th training precept: Ordaining a woman of bad character.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then Thullanandā bhikkhunī entered Sāvatthī on almsround, saw a woman of a hateful character, evil, rough, enjoying to quarrel, fighting with other women. With her hair sticking up, she immitated the howl of a jackal. When other people heard the sound, they fell to the ground. When Thullā bhikkhunī saw her, she thought: “If I can get her to go forth, she’ll certainly support and help me quarrel with others.” Then she used skillful means to give her the going forth. At a later time, Thullā bhikkhunī had a small fight with other bhikkhunīs. The newly-gone forth nun stood there watching silently. Thullā bhikkhunī told her: “Can’t you save me? I’ve given you the going forth. Why do now stand there silently? Didn’t you see that I need help?” The nun said: “Noble one, at the moment, I don’t know the background, so how can I help you?” Thullā bhikkhunī said: “If I fight with Mahāpajāpatī bhikkhunī, you can abuse her: ‘She shaved her head herself.’ To Uppalavaṇṇā bhikkhunī (you can say:) ‘She made a living by showing off her beauty in the six great cities.’ To Dhammadinnā bhikkhunī: ‘She received the full ordination by messenger.’ To Kisāgotamī: ‘She was forced to eat her child’s flesh.’ You should help me and criticize them with these phrases.” When the nun of bad character heard Thullā bhikkhunī quarrel with others, she made fun of the bhikkhunīs who quarreled. Many bhikkhunīs said: “Who ordained such a person of bad character who enjoys quarreling, and let her go forth?” Someone among them answered: “Who except for Thullā bhikkhunī would ordain her?” The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha asked and criticized, as explained in detail, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī knows that a woman has a bad character and enjoys quarreling, and gives her the going forth and the full ordination, it’s a pācittiya.’” The pātimokkha just says “the going forth” and doesn’t mention the full ordination.*

Explanations

“A bhikkhunī” means Thullanandā, or any other bhikkhunī.

“A woman of bad character” means that she enjoys quarreling.

“The going forth” means giving the sāmaṇera and other precepts.

“Giving the full ordination” is as explained above.

The explanations of the rule factors etc. are as explained in detail before.