On five cases when one may ordain

^Kd.1.36.2 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities^[1] he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him: if he is not possessed of an adept’s body of moral habit … body of concentration … body of wisdom … body of freedom … body of vision and knowledge of freedom. Monks, if a monk is not possessed of these five qualities he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.3 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities he may ordain, he may give guidance, a novice may attend him: if he is possessed of an adept’s body of moral habit … body of vision and knowledge of freedom. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities ^Vin.1.63 he may ordain, he may give guidance, a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.4 “And, monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him: if he is neither himself possessed of an adept’s body of moral habit nor encourages another as to an adept’s body of moral habit … if he is neither himself possessed ^BD.4.82 of an adept’s body of vision and knowledge of freedom nor encourages another as to an adept’s body of vision and knowledge of freedom. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.5 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities … a novice may attend him: if he is himself possessed of an adept’s body of moral habit and encourages another as to an adept’s body of moral habit … if he is himself possessed of an adept’s body of vision and knowledge of freedom and encourages another as to an adept’s body of vision and knowledge of freedom. Monks, if a novice is possessed of these five qualities he may ordain … a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.6 “And, monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain … a novice should not attend him: if he comes to be lacking in faith,^[2] if he comes to be without shame, if he comes to be reckless, if he comes to be lazy, if he comes to be of muddled mindfulness.^[3] Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he should not ordain … a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.7 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities he may ordain … a novice may attend him: if he comes to have faith, if he comes to feel shame, if he comes to be cautious, if he comes to be of stirred up energy, if he comes to be of ready mindfulness^[4]. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he may ordain … a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.8 “And, monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain … a novice should not attend him: if, in regard to moral habit,^[5] he comes to have fallen away from moral habit; if, in regard to good habits,^[6] he comes to ^BD.4.83 have fallen away from good habits; if, in regard to (right) view,^[7] he comes to have fallen away from (right) view; if he comes to have heard little, if he comes to be of poor intelligence. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he should not ordain …

^Kd.1.36.9 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities he may ordain ^Vin.1.64 … a novice may attend him: if, in regard to moral habit, he does not come to have fallen away from moral habit; if, in regard to good habits, he does not come to have fallen away from good habits; if, in regard to (right) view, he does not come to have fallen away from (right) view; if he comes to have heard much; if he comes to be intelligent. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he may ordain … a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.10 “And, monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain … a novice should not attend him: if he is not competent to tend or to get (another) to tend a pupil or one who shares a cell and who is ill, to allay or get (another) to allay dissatisfaction that has arisen, to dispel or get (another) to dispel, by means of dhamma,^[8] remorse that has arisen, if he does not know what is an offence, if he does not know the removal^[9] of an offence. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities … a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.11 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities … a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.12 “And monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain … a novice should not attend him: if he is not competent to make a pupil or one who shares a cell train in the training regarding the fundamentals of conduct,^[10] to lead him in the training regarding the fundamentals of the Brahma-faring,^[11] to lead him in what pertains to ^BD.4.84 dhamma,^[12] to lead him in what pertains to discipline,^[13] to discuss or get (another) to discuss, by means of dhamma, a false view that has arisen. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities … a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.13 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities … a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.14 “And monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities … a novice should not attend him: if he does not know what is an offence,^[14] if he does not know what is not an offence, if he does not know what is a slight offence, if he does not know what is a serious offence, if the two Pātimokkhas^[15] in full are not properly handed down to him, not properly classified, not properly intoned, not properly divided by rule and in respect of the explanation.^[16] Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities … a novice should not attend him.

^Kd.1.36.15 “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities … ^Vin.1.65 a novice may attend him.

^Kd.1.36.16 “And, monks, if a monk is possessed of five further qualities he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him: if he does not know what is an offence, if he does not know what is not an offence, if he does not know what is a slight offence, if he does not know what is a serious offence, if he is of less than ten years’ standing. Monks, if a monk is possessed of these five qualities he should not ordain, he should not give guidance, a novice should not attend him.

^{Vin.1.66Kd.1.36.17} “Monks, if a monk is possessed of five qualities he may ordain, he may give guidance, a novice may attend him: if he knows what is an offence, if he knows what is not an offence, if he knows what is a slight offence, if he knows what is a serious ^BD.4.85 offence, if he is of ten years’ standing or of more than ten years’ standing.”

^Kd.1.36.18 Told is the Portion of sixteen times five cases when one may ordain.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Cf. DN.iii.279; SN.i.99; AN.i.162, AN.iii.271, AN.v.16.

[2]:

On the following quintet, cf. DN.iii.252, DN.iii.282; MN.i.43; AN.ii.218; SN.ii.159, also AN.iii.421, AN.iv.145 and see MN-a.i.190.

[3]:

muṭṭhassati. See definition at SN-a.i.115. On this and upaṭṭhitasati, “ready mindfulness” (or recollection), see Morris, Journal of the Pali Text Society 1884, p.92. Cf. sati muṭṭha at Thag.98, Thag.99.

[4]:

upaṭṭhitasati; cf. also MN.i.356.

[5]:

adhisīle. Vin.1.172 says that the four Pārājikas and the thirteen Saṅghādisesas are “falling away from moral habit”, as does Vin-a.989. Thus adhisīla is also the “higher morality”.

[6]:

ajjhācāra. Vin.1.172 names the falling away from this as grave offences, offences of expiation, those which ought to be confessed, those of wrong-doing, those of wrong speech. Vin-a.989 calls them “the five other classes of offence” (i.e. excluding the Pārājika and Saṅghādisesa). Ajjhācāra can also mean “transgression”.

[7]:

atidiṭṭhi. Vin.1.172 says that “falling away from right view means wrong view”, views of an extreme nature; while Vin-a.989 says that getting rid of right view, he is possessed of wrong view of an extreme nature.

[8]:

Cf. above Kd.1.25.20.

[9]:

vuṭṭhāna, the arising from. Cf. below, BD.4.134, āpattī vuṭṭhitā, an offence that is removed, and BD.4.197, gāmo vuṭṭhāsi, the village (was) removed.

[10]:

abhisamācārikā. Vin-a.989–Vin-a.990 equates these with the duties (laid down) in the Khandhakas.

[11]:

ādibrahmacāriyikā; see Vinaya Texts i.185, n.1. Vin-a.990 speaks of this as sekhapaññatti, which might mean ideas, concepts, notions suitable to a sekha, a learner.

[12]:

abhidhamma. Vin-a.990 takes this as a division by name and form; and clearly has the Abhidhammapiṭaka in mind. But, for this passage pre-dating the existence of the Abhidhammapiṭaka, see Oldenberg, Vin.1.xii, also BD.3.xf., and my article: Abhidhamma Abhivinaya Indian History Quarterly Vol. XII, No. 3, September, 1941.

[13]:

abhivinaya, taken by Vin-a.990 to mean the whole of the Vinayapiṭaka.

[14]:

Cf. Vin.2.249; AN.iv.140, AN.v.71, AN.v.80, AN.v.201.

[15]:

That for the monks and that for the nuns. On Pātimokkha see below, BD.4.131, n.2. For this part of the passage see also Vin.4.51 (BD.2.266). In general Buddhaghosa, at Vin-a.790 and Vin-a.990, gives different explanations of the terms. This accounts for the different translations here and at BD.2.266.

[16]:

Or, meaning, anuvyañjanaso. Vin-a.990 appears to explain this by vibhaṅgato, as to the Vibhaṅga, the explanatory material surrounding each rule; and suttato, “by rule”, by mātikato, by the “summaries”, the headings of, or key to, each set of rules (in Vin.3 and Vin.4).