The story of Yasa

Sachitra Mahendra

Yasa was a man with great wealth inherited from his father. He had all riches around him such as music and female company. He woke up early in the morning and saw the appalling scene of tired women sleeping here and there. Yasa was greatly frustrated.

The Buddha had a lengthy talk with the young man on generosity, morality, futility of sensual pleasures and the benefit of renunciation. Yasa could slowly collect his wits and his mind became stable. He had the rare privilege of being a monk straight away, when the Buddha called him as ‘Come here, monk’. He became Sotapanna.

He was the sixth to be a monk as well as an Arahath. He is believed to have lived in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India.

The Buddha and his six Arahath visited the home of Yasa the following day. Yasa’s mother and his former wife thus became the first two female lay disciples. Upon hearing of Yasa’s ordination, four of his closest friends, Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji and Gavampati followed him into the Sangha and they too became Arahath. Within two months, a further 50 of Yasa’s friends had joined the Sangha and attained arahantship, bringing the total number of Arahaths to 60.

This Yasa should not be mistaken with the namesake monk who played a pivotal role in the second Buddhist Council, which took place 100 years following the Buddha’s death.

How could Yasa get a chance to become the first Arahath monk after five ascetics? Saddharmaratnavaliya has an interesting account:

“Yasa had done a good deal of merits in a time of a certain Buddha. He and his friends were all born on earth in a time when no Buddha was in existence. Still they did merits such as cremating the poor and needy and those who had no kinsmen.”

Yasa’s family found him to be missing. His father got into the street to locate him, but met the Buddha instead. Immensely impressed by the Buddha’s teachings, Yasa’s father became a disciple; he too attained Sotapanna. The scriptures say Yasa’s father became the Buddha’s first lay disciple. He was more than happy to hear of his son’s spiritual achievement and invited the monk community to lunch at his home.

Yasa’s family members, mother and wife, became first female disciples and his closest friends, Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji and Gavampati became monks. This was followed by another batch of 50 friends, who all became Arahaths ultimately. Now the monk community consisted of 61 altogether. The Buddha knew it was the right time to propagate the teaching now.

“Go forth, O monks, for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many, of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit and happiness of gods and men. Two should not take the same path. Teach the Dhamma which is excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle and excellent in the end, both in spirit and letter. Proclaim the holy life, perfect and pure.”

The Buddha also made sure proper vinaya is applied in the monk community. He laid out rules on numerous occasions.

www.accesstoinsight.org offers a precise introduction for the Vinaya Pitaka:

“The Vinaya Pitaka, the first division of the Tipitaka, is the textual framework upon which the monastic community (Sangha) is built. It includes not only the rules governing the life of every Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and bhikkhuni (nun), but also a host of procedures and conventions of etiquette that support harmonious relations, both among the monastics themselves, and between the monastics and their lay supporters, upon whom they depend for all their material needs.

When the Buddha first established the Sangha, the community initially lived in harmony without any codified rules of conduct. As the Sangha gradually grew in number and evolved into a more complex society, occasions inevitably arose when a member would act in an unskillful way. Whenever one of these cases was brought to the Buddha’s attention, he would lay down a rule establishing a suitable punishment for the offense, as a deterrent to future misconduct. The Buddha’s standard reprimand was itself a powerful corrective:

It is not fit, foolish man, it is not becoming, it is not proper, it is unworthy of a recluse, it is not lawful, it ought not to be done. How could you, foolish man, having gone forth under this Dhamma and Discipline which are well-taught, [commit such and such offense]?... It is not, foolish man, for the benefit of un-believers, nor for the increase in the number of believers, but, foolish man, it is to the detriment of both unbelievers and believers, and it causes wavering in some.

- The Book of the Discipline, Part I, by I. B. Horner (London: Pali Text Society, 1982), pp. 36-37.

The monastic tradition and the rules upon which it is built are sometimes naïvely criticized - particularly here in the West - as irrelevant to the “modern” practice of Buddhism. Some see the Vinaya as a throwback to an archaic patriarchy, based on a hodge-podge of ancient rules and customs - quaint cultural relics that only obscure the essence of “true” Buddhist practice.

This misguided view overlooks one crucial fact: it is thanks to the unbroken lineage of monastics who have consistently upheld and protected the rules of the Vinaya for almost 2,600 years that we find ourselves today with the luxury of receiving the priceless teachings of Dhamma. Were it not for the Vinaya, and for those who continue to keep it alive to this day, there would be no Buddhism.

It helps [one] keep in mind that the name the Buddha gave to the spiritual path he taught was “hamma-vinaya - the Doctrine (Dhamma) and Discipline (Vinaya) - suggesting an integrated body of wisdom and ethical training.

The Vinaya is thus an indispensable facet and foundation of all the Buddha’s teachings, inseparable from the Dhamma, and worthy of study by all followers - lay and ordained, alike.

Lay practitioners will find in the Vinaya Pitaka many valuable lessons concerning human nature, guidance on how to establish and maintain a harmonious community or organization, and many profound teachings of the Dhamma itself.

But its greatest value, perhaps, lies in its power to inspire the layperson to consider the extraordinary possibilities presented by a life of true renunciation, a life lived fully in tune with the Dhamma.