At that time in Vārāṇasī there was young man of good family named Yasa—delicate, a moneylender’s son. He had three palaces: one for the cold season, one for the hot season, and one for the rainy season. During the four months of the rainy season he was entertained in the rainy-season palace by minstrels without a single man among them, and he did not come down once from the palace.
Then the young man Yasa, enjoying himself, provided & endowed with the five strings of sensuality, fell asleep first. Then his retinue fell asleep afterward. An oil lamp was left burning the whole night.
Then Yasa, waking up first, saw his retinue sleeping—one with a lute under her arm, another with a
mudiṅga drum around her neck, another with an
āḷambara drum on her chest, another with disheveled hair, another drooling, another babbling in her sleep—like a charnel ground, as it were, right within reach. Seeing this, the drawbacks [of sensuality] became apparent, and his mind became established in disenchantment. He exclaimed: “How distressing! How oppressive!”
Then Yasa put on his golden slippers and went to the door of the residence. Non-human beings opened the door, (thinking,) “May there not be any obstacles to Yasa’s Going-forth from home into homelessness.” Then Yasa went to the gate of the city. Non-human beings opened the gate, (thinking,) “May there not be any obstacles to Yasa’s Going-forth from home into homelessness.” Then Yasa went to the Isipatana game reserve.
At that time, the Blessed One, having gotten up as the night was ending, was walking back and forth in the open air. He saw Yasa coming from afar and, on seeing him, got down from the walking path and sat down on a seat laid out.
Yasa, not far from the Blessed One, exclaimed: “How distressing! How oppressive!”
Then the Blessed One said to Yasa, “Yasa, this isn’t distressing. This isn’t oppressive. “Come, Yasa. Sit down. I'll teach you the Dhamma.”
Then Yasa, (thinking,) “He says this isn’t distressing, this isn’t oppressive,” thrilled & exultant, took off his golden slippers, went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One gave him a graduated talk: a talk on giving, a talk on virtue, a talk on heaven; he proclaimed the drawbacks of, degradation in, & defilement in sensuality, and the rewards of renunciation. Then—when he knew that Yasa was of ready mind, malleable mind, unhindered mind, exultant mind, confident mind—he proclaimed to him the distinctive teaching of the Buddhas: stress, origination, cessation, path. Just as a clean piece of cloth, free from grime, would properly take dye, in the same way, the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye arose for Yasa as he was sitting right there:
“Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”
Then Yasa’s mother, going up into the palace and not seeing Yasa, went to the moneylender and, on arrival, said to him, “Householder, your son Yasa is nowhere to be seen.”
So the moneylender sent messengers on horseback out in the four directions whereas he himself went to the Isipatana game reserve. He saw the tracks of the golden slippers and, on seeing them, followed them.
The Blessed One saw him coming from afar, and the thought occurred to him, “Why don’t I fabricate a fabrication of supranormal power such that the moneylender, sitting here, wouldn’t see Yasa sitting here?” So the Blessed One fabricated such a fabrication of supranormal power.
The moneylender approached the Blessed One and said, “Perhaps, lord, the Blessed One has seen Yasa, the son of a good family?”
“In that case, householder, sit down. Perhaps, sitting here, you might see Yasa sitting here.”
Then the moneylender—(thinking,) “He says I might, sitting right here, see Yasa sitting here,” thrilled & exultant, bowed down to the Blessed One and sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One gave him a graduated talk: a talk on giving, a talk on virtue, a talk on heaven; he proclaimed the drawbacks of, degradation in, & defilement in sensuality, and the rewards of renunciation. Then—when he knew that the moneylender was of ready mind, malleable mind, unhindered mind, exultant mind, confident mind—he proclaimed to him the distinctive teaching of the Buddhas: stress, origination, cessation, path. Just as a clean piece of cloth, free from grime, would properly take dye, in the same way, the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye arose for the moneylender as he was sitting right there: “
Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”
Then the moneylender, having seen the Dhamma… said to the Blessed One, “Magnificent, lord! Magnificent! Just as if he were to place upright what was overturned, to reveal what was hidden, to show the way to one who was lost, or to carry a lamp into the dark so that those with eyes could see forms, in the same way, has the Blessed One—through many lines of reasoning—made the Dhamma clear. I go to the Blessed One for refuge, to the Dhamma, & to the Saṅgha of monks. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forward, for life.”
And so he was the first three-statement lay disciple in the world.
As Yasa’s father was being taught the Dhamma, and as Yasa was reflecting on his own state (of mind) as he saw and knew it, his mind was, through lack of clinging/sustenance, released from effluents. Then the thought occurred to the Blessed One, “As Yasa’s father was being taught the Dhamma, and as Yasa was reflecting on his own state (of mind) as he saw and knew it, his mind was, through lack of clinging/sustenance, released from effluents. It would be impossible for Yasa to revert to the lower life and indulge in sensuality as he did before as a householder. Why don’t I make that fabrication of supranormal power subside?”
So the Blessed One made that fabrication of supranormal power subside. The moneylender saw Yasa sitting there and on seeing him said to him, “Yasa, my son, your mother is lamenting and full of grief. Give your mother her life!”
Then Yasa looked to the Blessed One, so the Blessed One said to the moneylender, “What do you think, householder: For one who has seen and known the Dhamma with the knowledge and vision of one in training, just as you have, reflecting on this state (of mind) as he saw and knew it, whose mind was, through lack of clinging/sustenance, released from effluents: Would it be possible for him to revert to the lower life and indulge in sensuality as he did before as a householder?”
“No, lord.”
“Householder, Yasa has seen and known the Dhamma with the knowledge and vision of one in training, just as you have. Reflecting on his own state as he saw and knew it, his mind was, through lack of clinging/sustenance, released from effluents. It would be impossible for Yasa to revert to the lower life and indulge in sensuality as he did before as a householder.”
“It’s a gain for Yasa, lord, a great gain for Yasa, that his mind is, through lack of clinging/sustenance, released from effluents! May the Blessed One acquiesce to my meal tomorrow, with Yasa as your attendant monk.”
The Blessed One acquiesced with silence.
Then the moneylender, understanding the Blessed One’s acquiescence, got up from his seat, bowed down to the Blessed One, circumambulated him, keeping him to his right, and left.
Then Yasa, not long after the moneylender had left, said to the Blessed One, “May I receive the Going-forth in the Blessed One’s presence?
May I receive the Acceptance?"
“Come, monk,” said the Blessed One. “Well taught is the Dhamma. Live the holy life.”
60
That was the venerable one’s Acceptance.
Now there were seven arahants in the world. —
Mv 1:7
