of The Sati Trilogy:
The Yes Sayers
Powerfully combining themes of love and loss, intrigue and spirituality, this final volume of The Sati Trilogy concludes the life of the Buddhist monk Sati, in the 5th century B.C., and shines the light of timeless wisdom on some of our deepest contemporary concerns. A pioneering work of Buddhist historical fiction.
“Wow! It’s another page-turner.”
Leigh Brasington, author, Right Concentration.
“I very much enjoyed returning to the fictional world of the trilogy and found myself drawn into the story from the outset…The character of Kasi…a foil to Sati, a strong independent woman.”
Stephen Batchelor, author, After Buddhism.
The Yes Sayers:
Affirmation in the Time of the Buddha
Just as Sati is feeling satisfied with his spiritual progress and settled into his life as abbot of Ghosita’s Park,his karma catches up with him and thrusts him into unchartered territory. In The Yes Sayers, the final volume of The Sati Trilogy, Sati discovers he has an adult daughter, and she is angry. Kasi, who arrives in Kosambi after an epidemic has decimated her village, blames him for having abandoned her mother and herself (in utero) to a horrific but common fate among women who lack a man’s protection, and she demands that he use his influence to enable her to ordain as a Buddhist nun. Sati struggles with the challenges of being both a monk and a sudden father, while Kasi flounders in her efforts to find her footing in new circumstances.
Meanwhile, mysterious verses written by Sati’s father reappear when Sati’s aging aunt can no longer keep them. He probes the meaning of the verses, which he venerated as a child but never understood, and comes to a traumatic realization about his deepest spiritual experience. He feels obliged to leave Ghosita’s Park to seek the Buddha’s advice.
Sati’s fellow monk Pindola, always jealous of Sati’s position, seizes the opportunity to attain his own ends. His scheme forces Sati to make a radical decision, a decision that shapes, in a surprising way, the manner in which Sati is portrayed in Buddhist scripture and, thus, how he has been known in Buddhist circles ever since.
This Breath Press, 2018. Available on Amazon in paper and Kindle