Suspension 10

The 10th training precept: Ordaining someone’s wife.

Origin Story

Location as before. Then king Pasenadi had a great general, called Capable Sword-Wielder, who often went into battle. His wife remained at home, and troubled by feelings of desire, she finally had sex with an outsider. When the husband returned, and heard and knew about the affair, he lashed her with a whip and a cane. Even though she suffered, she didn’t learn from it and stop. The general thought: “For the king of the country, I defeat other districts and make them submissive. How am I not able to discipline my own wife?” Having thought this, he went and said to the king: “May the great king establish a rule for women. If they don’t keep a woman’s moral conduct, but follow a dirty, defiled example, there will be the most severe punishment.” The king said: “That’s a good thing.” Then at a later time, the general’s wife disobeyed this national law. The husband separated from her and told the king to apply the law. The woman then went and said to the judge: “Please tolerate this one transgression.” The judge said: “There’s no room for mercy here.” The woman said: “If I can’t avoid death, I ask for my life for seven years.” The judge said: “That’s not possible.” “If that’s not permitted, … likewise down to six, five, four, three, two, one year, please let me live.” The judge said: “That’s not possible.” “Likewise seven months, down to one month, let me live.” The judge said: “That’s not possible.” “In that case, just give me seven days.” The judge said: “As you like.” When she had been granted, she thought: “My life will end in seven days”, and weeping and with tears flowing, she engaged in meritorious activities.

Then Thullanandā bhikkhunī, at breakfast time, took her robe and bowl, and entered the city on almsround. She reached that woman’s house, saw her weeping, and said: “Young woman, because of what mental pain do you cry and practise charity?” She replied: “Because I’ll die soon.” The bhikkhunī said: “Don’t say such inauspicious words.” The woman then wailed, and subsequently explained the matter. The bhikkhunī said: “If that’s so, why don’t you give up lay life and go forth?” She answered: “Who would take me in?” The bhikkhunī said: “I’ll give you the going forth.” The woman then paid respect at her feet and replied: “Noble one, you’re giving me my life.” Thullanandā then gave her the going forth. When general Sword-Wielder heard that the evil woman had now gone forth, he said: “How could she possibly enter the city without fear? When the seven days are over, she’ll be killed.” When the bhikkhunī heard these words, she took the woman to seek out friends. They then went to the group-of-twelve bhikkhunīs and said: “This is official So-and-so’s wife, who has taken refuge in the Buddha and the dhamma, and now takes refuge in you.” Then they explained the matter. The group-of-twelve said: “This is a good thing, and we now support you. Who would dare to speak up? If they come, we’ll release you ourselves.” They also took the woman to Mahāpajāpatī and said:

“Noble one, you should know that this is official So-and-so’s wife. She has taken refuge in the Buddha, the dhamma, and the sangha jewels. She now came to take refuge at Mahāpajāpatī’s feet.” (Mahāpajāpatī) asked for the reason, and they explained it fully. Mahāpajāpatī said: “Sisters, of what use is this immoral person?” Thullanandā then took that woman to queen Sirimālā and said: “Queen, this is official So-and-so’s wife. She has taken refuge in the three jewels, and now takes refuge in the queen.” (The queen) asked for the reason, and they fully explained it as before. The queen said: “Why did you ordain this immoral woman? Giving her the going forth is against the law. This transgression has already happened. I’ll speak to the king.” Then she went to the king and fully explained the matter to him. The king said: “This is truly against the law. But the matter is difficult to resolve. If we follow the law and kill her, we’ll harm the Buddha’s teaching, and I’ll incur a bad reputation. But if we now release her, it’ll cause harm to our legal system. We’ll run into difficulties no matter what we do.” Then he had general Sword-Wielder informed fully about the matter. The general replied: “The established strict order was made known to the population. How can the king want to go against the law and release this woman?” The king said: “It’s proper to release her because she’s under the rule of other people.” I.e. the sangha.* When the general heard this, he was very upset: “How could they ordain this unlawful woman and make her go forth?”

The bhikkhunīs told the bhikkhus, and the bhikkhus told the Buddha. The Buddha gathered the bhikkhunīs for this reason as before, asked if it was true, and criticized her, down to: “I’ll lay down another training precept. You should recite it like this:

Final Ruling

‘If a bhikkhunī knows that someone’s wife has engaged in unlawful activities, that the people are all upset about her, that the husband has rejected her and also informed the king, and she gives her the going forth, it’s a saṅghādisesa.’”

Explanations

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

“Knowing” means she knows herself, to be explained in detail, down to “such a person is unfit for ordination”. If she ordains her, she incurs a saṅghādisesa.