Now about this time there was staying near Rajagha a famous religious teacher called Sanjaya, along with a large following of disciples and pupils, numbering about two hundred in all. And among these two-hundred disciples of Sanjaya, there were two very close friends who were not at all satisfied with the teaching their master gave them.
These two friends whose names were Upatissa and Kolita, wanted to know something more than their teacher knew and taught: they wanted to find that state which is beyond the power of death. They wanted to find what they called "The Deathless." And these two friends were so fond of one another, that they always shared together what ever either of them got. And they made a solemn promise to each other that they would both search and study and meditate with all their power, and try to find "The Deathless," and whichever of them found it first, he would let the other know.
Now it chanced that one morning early, as Upatissa was in the main street of Rajagaha, he saw some distance away, an ascetic going round from door to door begging alms of food. And as he looked at him, he was very much struck by everything about him. The unknown ascetic seemed to him most modest in his demeanor, and so calm and collected in his way of walking along and standing still while the people brought out rice from their houses and put it in his bowl. But when he had come nearer, his admiration of the ascetic was turned into wonder and reverence, for there was a look in his face such as he had never seen on the face of any ascetic before -- a look of perfect peace, of unshakable serenity as of a smooth unruffled lake under a calm, clear sky. "Who is this?" said Upatissa to himself. "This ascetic must be one who has found what I am seeking, or else he must be the pupil of such an one. I wonder who is his teacher? Whose doctrine can it be that he follows? I must go after him and find out."
Upatissa, however, knew that it was not proper to ask questions of a stranger ascetic while he was busy begging his morning meal, so he patiently walked on some way behind him as he passed in and out among the houses with his begging bowl; but at last, when the ascetic had gone round all the houses, and now was going out of the city gate, Upatissa went up to him, and greeting him with respect, humbly asked him if he would kindly tell him who was the teacher at whose feet he sat and learned. " Your coming and going, brother, are so serene and placid," he said, "your face is so clear and bright; very much would I like to know who is that teacher, to follow whom you have left home and friends behind. What is your teacher's name? What is the doctrine he preaches?"
"I can soon tell you that, brother," said the ascetic pleasantly. "There is a great ascetic of the Sakya race who has left his home and country behind in order to follow the homeless life. And it is to follow him that I have left the household life. It is that Blessed One who is my teacher. It is His teaching that I follow and practice."
"And what is that teaching, Venerable Sir? What is it that your master teaches? I also would like to know it," said Upatissa eagerly, thinking that perhaps at last now he was going to hear from this ascetic about that "Deathless" for which he and his friend Kolita had been looking for so long.
"I am only a novice, a newcomer into the Brotherhood of the Blessed One," replied the ascetic modestly. "It is only a little while ago since I began to study under the Blessed One, and to follow His rules of discipline, so I do not know very much yet about His Teaching. I cannot explain it to you in every little point. But if it is only the pith of His teaching that you want; I can give you that just in a few words."
"That is all I want, brother," said Upatissa quickly. "Tell me the substance. The substance is just what I want. What need to make a lot of words about it?"
"Very well, then," said the ascetic. "Listen!"
"How all things here through Cause have come, He hath made known, the Awakened One. And how again they pass away, That, too, the Great Recluse doth say."
That was all the ascetic said. But as Upatissa stood there listening to him by the city gate in one great flash of insight there burst upon his mind in all its force and verity, the great truth taught by all the Buddhas -- the truth that everything that ever has come into existence, or ever will come into existence, inevitably, unfailingly, without exception, must and will again Pass out of existence. Upatissa in this great moment saw clearly with his whole heart and mind that only whatever has not arisen, never had come into existence can be free from the law that it must pass out of existence again, must die. And he said to the ascetic: "If this is the doctrine you have learned from your teacher, then indeed you have found the state that is free from sorrow, free from death, the state of the Sorrowless, the Deathless, which has not been made known to men for ages and ages." Then, with expressions of joyful gratitude, he took leave of the ascetic who thus in a moment had brought light to his mind, and he went off to find his friend Kolita and bring him the great news that at last he had found "The Deathless."
But just as he had seen the unknown ascetic from a distance and wondered at his impressive walk and behavior; so now Kolita saw his friend Upatissa coming near, and wondered what had made such a change in his whole appearance. And he said to him:
"Why, brother, how clear and shining your face is! Can it be, brother, that at last you have found "The Deathless" we both have been seeking so long?"
"It is so, brother; it is so," was Upatissa's glad reply. "I have found the Deathless."
"But how, brother, how?" Kolita asked eagerly.
Then Upatissa told his bosom friend Kolita about the unknown ascetic he had seen that morning begging in the streets -- an ascetic all dressed in yellow, and looking so calm and collected as he never had seen an ascetic look before. And how he had followed him out of the city gate and then asked him to tell him the secret of his peace and serenity. Then he repeated to Kolita the four line stanza the ascetic of the happy countenance had repeated to him. And there and then, in a flash of perception, Kolita also saw the Truth that the Deathless is that which never has arisen in this world of sights and sounds and scents and tastes and touches and ideas, and, because it never has so arisen, therefore cannot pass away again, cannot die.
So these two friends, with minds now happy and joyful, went to the place where the Buddha was, and asked to be allowed to take Him as their master and teacher henceforth instead of Sanjaya whom they now left. And the Buddha accepted them into the Brotherhood of His Bhikkhus, and within a very short time they became the very foremost of the Buddha's disciples for their learning and practical knowledge. In fact, these two friends Upatissa and Kolita, became the two great Theras known to the world as Sariputta and Moggallana. And the name of the ascetic who told them the Doctrine of the Buddha in one little stanza or gatha of four lines only, was Assajii. And ever afterwards this little stanza was known as "Assaji's stanza."
But it was not only Upatissa and Kolita who joined the Buddha's Order of Bhikkhus while he was staying at Rajagaha at this time. Many of the youths of the best families of Magadha left their homes, their fathers and mothers and all their relations behind them, and became the Bhikkhu disciples of the great Sakya teacher who was so different from the ordinary religious teachers of the country -- so great and noble by birth and attainments, and whose Teaching, if followed to its end, brought about the ceasing of all things evil. Indeed, so many young men left their homes to follow the Sakya Sage, the Buddha Gotama, that the people of the country began to get alarmed and annoyed, and some of them even got angry. And they went to the Buddha and complained saying that if things went on much longer as they were doing, soon there would be no young men at all left in the country to live the household life. Soon, they said, there would be no more families, no more wives and children, and the whole country would go to ruin and become an empty wilderness, for all the young men in the country would be Bhikkhus.
So when the Buddha heard this complaint of the people, He gave orders that after this, no one was to come and follow Him as a Bhikkhu without first getting permission to do so from his father or mother; or, if his father and mother were dead, then from his nearest relation, whoever that might be. And when the people of Magadha heard of this new rule of the Buddha, they were once more pleased and contented to have a Buddha in their midst, and they gave Him and His Bhikkhus the best of everything they had got. And this new rule which the Buddha thus first gave out at Rajagaha with regard to Bhikkhus joining the Order, is the one we find in the Vinaya Rules of the Sangha to this day.
Ven .Bhikkhu Silacara
The Author
Colombo, 15th January 1953
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