Buddhist Scriptures, by E.J. Thomas, [1913], at sacred-texts.com
VII
THE ORDINATION OF YASA
The conversion of Yasa and his father is represented as taking place soon after the Great Enlightenment. Two laymen had previously been converted together, confessing their belief in the Buddha and the doctrine, and Yasa's father was the first to be admitted by the threefold utterance. This formula, thrice repeated, is as follows:
I go to the Doctrine as my Refuge,
I go to the Order as my Refuge.
As a bhikkhu of the present day, the Rev. Ānanda Metteyya, says, "This recitation marks the beginning of every religious function in Burma, from the offering of a few flowers by a child at the local sanctuary, to the public acceptation at the hands of a Chapter of the Order of the higher degree of Ordination into the Monastic Brotherhood on the part of an adult novice." (An Outline of Buddhism, Rangoon, 1912.)
At that time there was in Benares a noble youth named Yasa, son of a gild-master, and delicately nurtured. He had three palaces, one for winter, one for summer, and one for the season of rains. He spent four months in the palace of the rainy season, surrounded by music-girls, and did not leave the palace. Now, Yasa, the noble
youth, thus attended, endowed with and possessed of the five passions of sense, once fell asleep sooner than usual, and afterwards his attendants also fell asleep. All the night an oil-lamp was burning. Yasa, the noble youth, woke sooner than usual, and saw his attendants sleeping, a lute in the arms of one, a tambour on the neck of another, a drum in the arms of another, one with dishevelled hair, another with drivelling mouth, and muttering. It was like a cemetery round him. As he saw this, the evils of life became clear to him, and his mind became set with aversion. So Yasa, the noble youth, made this solemn utterance: "How oppressive it is, how afflicting it is!" Then Yasa, the noble youth, put on his gilt shoes, and went to the door of the house. Superhuman beings opened the gate, saying, "Let no one put an obstacle before Yasa, the noble youth, in his going forth from the house to a houseless life."
And Yasa, the noble youth, went to Isipatana, the deer-park. At that time the Lord had arisen at night, as it was dawning, and was walking in the open air. The Lord saw Yasa, the noble youth, as he was coming from afar, and on seeing him came down from where he was walking, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. Yasa, the noble youth, on drawing near the Lord made this solemn utterance: "How oppressive it is, how afflicting it is!" And the Lord said to
[paragraph continues] Yasa, the noble youth, "This, Yasa, is not oppressive, this is not afflicting. Come, Yasa, sit down, I will teach you the doctrine." Then Yasa, the noble youth, at these words, "This is not oppressive, this is not afflicting," was elated and glad, and taking off his gilt shoes approached the Lord, and having saluted him, sat down at one side. As he was seated at one side, the Lord gave him a due exposition of this kind: he preached a discourse of almsgiving, of the commandments, of heaven, the misery, worthlessness, and impurity of lusts, and the blessing of renunciation. When the Lord saw that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, was prepared, susceptible, free from obstacles, elated, and happy, then he preached a most excellent discourse of the doctrine of the Buddhas: suffering, the cause (of suffering), the destruction (of suffering), and the path. And as a clean cloth free from stain duly takes the dye, so in Yasa, the noble youth, as he sat there, arose the pure, unstained, insight into the doctrine, that everything subject to birth is subject to destruction.
Now the mother of Yasa, the noble youth, went up to the palace, and not seeing him went to the gild-master, the householder, and approached him and said, "Your son Yasa, householder, is not to be seen." Then the gild-master, the householder, sent out messengers on horseback in four directions, and he himself went to Isipatana, the
deer-park. The gild-master, the householder, saw the footprints of the gilt shoes, and seeing them he followed their traces. Now the Lord saw the gild-master, the householder, approaching, and as he saw him he thought, "What if I were to effect such an exercise of miraculous power, that the gild-master, the householder, sitting here should not see Yasa, the noble youth, sitting here." So the Lord effected such an exercise of miraculous power. Then the gild-master, the householder, approached the Lord, and having approached said, "Perhaps the reverend Lord has seen Yasa, the noble youth." "Well, householder, sit down, perhaps sitting here you can see Yasa, the noble youth sitting here." The gild-master, the householder, thought, "Surely, sitting here I shall see Yasa, the noble youth, sitting here," and glad and elated he saluted the Lord and sat on one side.
As the gild-master, the householder, was seated on one side, the Lord gave him a due exposition of this kind: he preached a discourse of almsgiving, of the commandments, of heaven, the misery, worthlessness, and impurity of lusts, and the blessing of renunciation. Then the gild-master, the householder, having seen, attained, mastered, and penetrated the doctrine, with his doubts overcome, his uncertainties dispelled, having obtained clearness of mind, dependent on no one else for the teaching of the Master, said
to the Lord: "Wonderful, reverend sir, wonderful, reverend sir, it is as if, reverend sir, one were setting up what was overturned, or revealing what was hidden, or showing the way to one who was lost, or putting a lamp in the darkness,—those with eyes see visible things—even so has the Lord preached the doctrine in many ways. Reverend sir, I go to the Lord as a refuge, and to the doctrine, and to the assembly of brethren. May the Lord take me as a lay-disciple from this day forth, while my life lasts, who have come to him for refuge." He was the first in the world who became a disciple effected by the triple utterance.
Then Yasa, the noble youth, as the doctrine was being taught to his father, contemplated the stage of knowledge thus perceived and thus understood, and his mind became freed from attachment to the passions. And the Lord thought, "Yasa, the noble youth, as the doctrine was being taught to his father, has been contemplating the stage of knowledge thus perceived and thus understood, and his mind has become freed from attachment to the passions. It is impossible that Yasa, the noble youth, should return to a worldly life to find enjoyment in lusts, as he did before, while he lived in his house. What if I were now to make the exercise of my miraculous power to cease." Then the Lord made the exercise of his miraculous power to
cease. So the gild-master, the householder, saw Yasa, the noble youth, seated, and on seeing him he said to Yasa, the noble youth, "Your mother, Yasa, my son, is filled with lamentation and grief, restore your mother to life." Then Yasa, the noble youth, looked at the Lord. And the Lord said to the gild-master, the householder, "Now what do you think, householder? Yasa with imperfect knowledge and imperfect insight has perceived the doctrine as you have, and on contemplating the stage of knowledge thus perceived and thus understood, his mind has become freed from attachment to the passions. Is it possible, householder, that Yasa should return to a worldly life to find enjoyment in lusts, as he did before, while he lived in his house?" "It is not possible, reverend sir." "Yasa, the noble youth, householder, with imperfect knowledge and imperfect insight, has perceived the doctrine as you have, and on contemplating the stage of knowledge thus perceived and thus understood, his mind has become freed from attachment to the passions. It is not possible, householder, that Yasa, the noble youth, should return to a worldly life to find enjoyment in lusts, as he did while he lived in his house." "It is gain, reverend sir, to Yasa, the noble youth, it is great gain to Yasa, the noble youth, reverend sir, that the mind of Yasa, the noble youth, should be freed from attachment to the passions. Let the
reverend Lord consent to take food to-day from me with Yasa, the noble youth, as a junior brother." The Lord by his silence consented. And the gild-master, perceiving the consent of the Lord, rose from his seat, saluted the Lord, passed round him, keeping his right side towards him, and departed. Then Yasa, the noble youth, soon after the gild-master, the householder, was gone, said to the Lord, "Reverend sir, let me receive from the Lord the ordination of going forth (pabbajā), and of admission to the order (upasampadā)." "Come, bhikkhu," said the Lord, "the doctrine is well taught, lead a holy life for the complete extinction of suffering." This was the ordination of this elder. At that time there were seven Arahats in the world. (Vin. Mahāv. I. 7.)