The Story of the Venerable Tissa, the Son of a Householder

A householder in Sri Lanka had two sons. After the death of their father, the elder son, Tissa, gave all inheritance to his younger brother and became a bhikkhu, practising meditation in a jungle monastery. Then the younger brother’s wife thought to herself: “Now we get all the wealth because my brother-in-law became a bhikkhu. If he decides to return to layman’s life, we will have to give him back half the wealth. There is no knowing whether he will do so or not. We will have peace of mind only when he dies.” With this thought she engaged some men to kill her brother-in-law.

The men went to the jungle monastery and seized the Venerable Tissa in the evening. The Venerable told them that he possessed nothing which they might want. The men explained: “We do not come here to get your wealth. We come here to kill you (at the instance of your sister-in-law).” The Venerable said: “I possess pure sīla, but I haven't yet attained arahatta-phala. As I want to achieve arahatship depending on this pure sīla, allow me to practise Vipassanā Meditation before dawn.” “We cannot grant your request. If you run away during the night, we will have to take the trouble of catching you again.” Saying: “I will let you see clearly how I cannot run away,” the Venerable broke his two knees himself with a big stone.

When both knees were completely broken thus, the Venerable said: “Now you have seen my condition. By no means can I run away from you. I abhor to die as a worldling with sensual lust. I feel ashamed of it.” Only then did the men give him permission to practise meditation. Then the Venerable, depending upon his sīla which was not tarnished by lust, made efforts throughout the night until dawn when he attained arahatship.