Yasa was a
bhikkhuA Bhikku , Bhikṣu is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastic is called Bhikkhuni . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha...
during the time of
Gautama BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
. He was the sixth
bhikkhuA Bhikku , Bhikṣu is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastic is called Bhikkhuni . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha...
in the Buddha’s
sanghaSangha 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. It is commonly used in several senses to refer to Buddhist or Jain groups...
and was the sixth to achieve arahanthood. Yasa lived in the 6th century BCE in what is now
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
and
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi , and 3rd largest by population. Close to 85 percent of the population lives in villages...
in northern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
.
Yasa was raised in
VaranasiVaranasi , also commonly known as Benares or Banaras and Kashi , is a city situated on the left bank of the River Ganga in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains...
in a life of luxury. His father was a millionaire. The family home was full of servants, musicians and dancers who catered for the family’s needs and entertainment.
Yasa was a
bhikkhuA Bhikku , Bhikṣu is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastic is called Bhikkhuni . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha...
during the time of
Gautama BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
. He was the sixth
bhikkhuA Bhikku , Bhikṣu is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastic is called Bhikkhuni . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha...
in the Buddha’s
sanghaSangha 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. It is commonly used in several senses to refer to Buddhist or Jain groups...
and was the sixth to achieve arahanthood. Yasa lived in the 6th century BCE in what is now
Uttar PradeshUttar Pradesh , [often referred to as U.P.] is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 190 million people,...
and
BiharBihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at 38,202 sq mi , and 3rd largest by population. Close to 85 percent of the population lives in villages...
in northern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
.
Yasa was raised in
VaranasiVaranasi , also commonly known as Benares or Banaras and Kashi , is a city situated on the left bank of the River Ganga in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, regarded as holy by Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains...
in a life of luxury. His father was a millionaire. The family home was full of servants, musicians and dancers who catered for the family’s needs and entertainment. One day, when he had become a young man, Yasa awoke early and saw his female servants and entertainers asleep in a repulsive state. Disgusted by the spectacle, Yasa realised the vanity of worldly life, and left the family home muttering “Distressed am I, oppressed am I” and journeyed in the direction of Isipatana where the Buddha was temporarily residing after his first five bhikkhus had attained arahantship. This was five days after all of the first five bhikkhus had attained arahantship.
The Buddha was pacing up and down in an open space near where Yasa was muttering “Distressed am I, oppressed am I”, and called Yasa over to him, inviting him to sit down. Yasa took off his golden sandals, saluted and sat down. The Buddha gave a
dharmaThe term , is an Indian spiritual and religious term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term. A Hindu's Dharma is affected by a person's age, class, occupation, and sex. In Indian languages it can be equivalent simply to "religion", depending on context...
discourse, and Yasa achieved the first stage of arahanthood,
sotapannaIn Buddhism, Sotapanna or Śrotāpanna means "stream-winner" and refers to a person, who has eradicated the first three fetters of the mind. Sotapanna literally means "one who entered the stream", after a simile that compares attaining nibbāna with crossing a stream and reaching the furthest shore...
.
At first, the Buddha spoke about generosity (
dana-Given names:*Dana , a South Korean pop singer who is part of girl group TSZX the Grace*Dana Halabi, a Lebanese singer, usually referred to simply as Dana*Dana International, Israeli singer...
), morality (
silaŚīla or sīla is usually rendered into English as "virtue"; other translations include "good conduct," "morality," "moral discipline" and "precept." It is an action that is an intentional effort. It is one of the three practices and the second pāramitā. It refers to moral purity of thought, word,...
), celestial states (sagga), the evils of sensual pleasure (kamadinava), blessing of renunciation (nekkhammanisamsa), before teaching the
Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths is one of the most fundamental Buddhist teachings. In broad terms, these truths relate to suffering , its nature, its origin, its cessation and the path leading to its cessation...
.
Yasa’s mother had noticed her son’s absence, and notified her husband, who sent horsemen in four directions to search for Yasa. Yasa’s father headed in the direction of Isipatana, following the trail left by the golden slippers. When the millionaire saw the Buddha and asked him if he had seen Yasa, the Buddha asked him to sit down, and then delivered a dharma talk. After this Yasa’s father became the first to take refuge in the Triple Gems, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Yasa, who was in the vicinity and had heard the talk given to his father, became an arahant. After father and son were reunited, the father invited the Buddha and the Sangha to his home for alms on the following day. The Buddha then ordained Yasa.
The Buddha and his six arahants 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,
SubahuSubahu , is a character in the epic Ramayana. A demon, he and his mother, the demoness Thataka, took immense pleasure in harassing the munis of the jungle, especially Viswamitra, by disrupting their yagnas with rains of flesh and blood....
, Punnaji and Gavampati followed him into the sangha and they too became arahants. Within two months, a further fifty of Yasa’s friends had joined the Sangha and attained arahantship, bringing the total number of arahants to sixty.