[27] Then the mother of Yasa the clansman, having ascended the mansion and not seeing Yasa the clansman, approached the merchant householder and, having approached, said this to the merchant householder: "Householder, your son Yasa is not to be seen." Then the merchant householder, having dispatched messengers on horseback to the four directions, himself went to the Deer Park at Isipatana. The merchant householder saw where the golden slippers had been set down, and having seen it, followed that very track. The Blessed One saw the merchant householder coming from afar. Having seen him, this occurred to the Blessed One: "What if I were to perform such a feat of psychic power (iddhābhisaṅkhāra) that the merchant householder, sitting here, would not see Yasa the clansman sitting here?" Then the Blessed One performed such a feat of psychic power.
Then the merchant householder approached the Blessed One and, having approached, said this to the Blessed One: "Venerable sir, has the Blessed One perhaps seen Yasa the clansman?"
"Well then, householder, sit down. Perhaps, sitting here, you will see Yasa the clansman sitting here."
Then the merchant householder, elated and joyful, thinking, "It seems that, sitting right here, I shall see Yasa the clansman sitting here!" paid homage to the Blessed One and sat down to one side. As the merchant householder sat to one side, the Blessed One gave him a progressive talk (anupubbikathā), namely: talk on giving, talk on virtue, talk on the heavens; he made known the danger, the degradation, and the defilement of sensual pleasures, and the benefit of renunciation (nekkhamma). When the Blessed One knew that the merchant householder's mind (citta) was ready, malleable, free of the hindrances (nīvaraṇa), uplifted, and confident, then he made known the Dhamma teaching exalted by the Buddhas themselves: suffering (dukkha), origin, cessation, path. Just as a clean cloth free of stains would properly take the dye, even so, in that very seat, there arose in the merchant householder the stainless, immaculate eye of Dhamma: "Whatever is of a nature to arise, all that is of a nature to cease."
Then the merchant householder — having seen the Dhamma, attained the Dhamma, understood the Dhamma, fathomed the Dhamma, having crossed over doubt (vicikicchā), with perplexity gone, having attained self-confidence, independent of others in the Teacher's dispensation — said this to the Blessed One: "Excellent, venerable sir! Excellent, venerable sir! Just as one might set upright what has been overturned, or uncover what has been concealed, or point out the way to one who is lost, or hold up an oil lamp in the darkness so that those with eyes might see forms — even so has the Dhamma been made known by the Blessed One in many ways. Venerable sir, I go to the Blessed One for refuge, and to the Dhamma, and to the Saṅgha of bhikkhus. May the Blessed One remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life from this day forward."
And he was the first lay follower (upāsaka) in the world by the threefold declaration.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.