Pabbajja literally means "to go forth" and refers to when a layperson

Householder (Buddhism)

In English translations of Buddhist literature, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch...

 leaves home to live the life of a Buddhist renunciate among a community

Sangha

Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...

 of monks (bhikkhu

Bhikkhu

A Bhikkhu or Bhikṣu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikkhuni Nepali: ). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline...

s). This generally involves preliminary ordination as a novice (m. samanera

Samanera

A samanera ) may be translated as novice monk in a Buddhist context. The literal meaning is 'small samana', that is, small renunciate where 'small' has the meaning of boy or girl. In the Vinaya monastic discipline, a man under the age of 20 cannot ordain as a bhikkhu, but can ordain as a samanera...

, f. samaneri

Samaneri

A samaneri is a novice Buddhist nun, who lives according to the ten precepts. Male novices are called samaneras. A woman is to be ordained, according to Theravada tradition, by both a monk and a nun, first as a samaneri. After a year or at the age of 20, she will be ordained as a full bhikkhuni....

). It is sometimes referred to as "lower ordination." After a period of time or when the novice reaches 20 years of age, the novice can be considered for the upasampada

Upasampada

Upasampadā literally means "approaching or nearing the ascetic tradition." In more common parlance it specifically refers to the rite of ordination by which one undertakes the Buddhist monastic life....

 ordination (or "higher ordination") whereby the novice becomes a monk (bhikkhu

Bhikkhu

A Bhikkhu or Bhikṣu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikkhuni Nepali: ). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline...

) or nun (bhikkhuni

Bhikkhuni

A bhikkhuni or bhikṣuṇī is a fully ordained female Buddhist monastic. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the vinaya...

).

In some traditional Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 countries, such as Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, boys undergo pabbajja (Shinbyu

Shinbyu

Shinbyu is the Burmese term for a novitiation ceremony in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, referring to the celebrations marking the samanera ordination of a boy under the age of 20....

) at the age of puberty. In Mahayana

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 countries such as China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, the pabbajja is preceded by a probationary period.

Source

• Encyclopædia Britannica (2007a). "Pabbajja." Retrieved 26 Sept 2007 from "Encyclopædia Britannica Online" at http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9057892.
• Encyclopædia Britannica (2007b). "Upasampada." Retrieved 26 Sept 2007 from "Encyclopædia Britannica Online" at http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074384.

External links

• "pabbajja" entry in the Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary (1921–25).
• "The Admission to the Order of Bhikkhus" in Rhys Davids & Oldenberg's English-language translation of the Vinaya Text (1881). (Note that, in this translation, the English word is spelled, "pabbaggâ.")