Ashvajit (6th century BCE) - अश्वजित् - Aśvajit - Assaji - རྟ་ཐུལ། rta thul ta tul - 阿說示 阿说示, Āshuōshì - 아설시 Aseolsi - 阿説示 Asetsuji - Aśvajit
Ashvajit (अश्वजित् - Aśvajit; རྟ་ཐུལ། rta thul Ta Tul) was one of the five original ascetic companions of Shakyamuni Buddha and an early member of the monastic Sangha. Born into a Brahmin family near Kapilavastu in ancient India during the 6th century BCE, his exact year of birth and year of death are not definitively fixed in historical archives, though he lived through the 5th century BCE. Alongside Ajnata Kaundinya, Bhadrika, Vashpa, and Mahanaman, he practiced extreme renunciation and self-mortification with the prince before temporarily departing when Shakyamuni adopted the Middle Way. Following the Buddha's complete awakening beneath the Bodhi tree, Ashvajit reunited with him at the Deer Park in Sarnath, where he heard the inaugural discourse on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path in the Dharmachakrapravartana Sutra, preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 337 and in the Chinese Tripitaka as Taisho Number 109 and Taisho Number 110, swiftly taking refuge and attaining full liberation from karma and samsara.
Within the Buddhist tradition, Ashvajit is celebrated above all for his serene deportment, impeccable mindfulness, and pivotal role in converting Shariputra and Maudgalyayana to the Dharma. While walking on his daily alms round in Rajagriha, Ashvajit radiated such profound equanimity, ethical conduct, and non-attachment that the wandering ascetic Shariputra was immediately struck by his peaceful demeanor and inquired about his teacher. Practicing humble skillful means, Ashvajit stated that he was newly ordained and could not expound the doctrine at length, so he recited a single, famous four-line verse summarizing dependent origination and dependent co-arising, explaining that the Tathagata teaches the cause of all phenomena arising from causes as well as their cessation. Upon hearing this concise distillation of wisdom and anicca, Shariputra immediately attained the first stage of awakening and shared the verse with Maudgalyayana, leading both of them and their hundreds of followers to join the Sangha.
Through unwavering concentration, meditation, and right effort, Ashvajit completely eradicated the three poisons, realized the emptiness of self and anatta, and abided in the peace of nirvana free from dukkha. Late in his life, while residing at the Bamboo Grove in Rajagriha, he suffered from a severe, painful physical illness that prevented him from entering deep meditative absorption, yet when Shakyamuni visited him, the Buddha reminded him that his pure right view and liberation from grasping at the five aggregates remained completely unshaken, as recorded in the Assaji Sutta and paralleled in the Chinese Tripitaka in Taisho Number 99. Embodying loving-kindness, compassion, and quiet devotion to the Dharma, Ashvajit left a lasting legacy that inspired future bodhisattvas and Buddhist Masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Atisha before he peacefully passed into parinirvana.
The famous four-line verse on dependent origination recited by Ashvajit to Shariputra in Rajagriha during the 6th century BCE or 5th century BCE is universally revered across the Buddhist world as the essence of the Dharma and the Four Noble Truths. In Sanskrit, the verse reads: ये धर्मा हेतुप्रभवा हेतुं तेषां तथागतो ह्यवदत् । तेषां च यो निरोध एवंवादी महाश्रमणः ॥ - teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃvādī mahāśramaṇaḥ ||. In the Tibetan script, it is rendered as ཆོས་རྣམས་གང་དག་རྒྱུ་ལས་བྱུང་བ་དེ། །དེ་ཡི་རྒྱུ་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་གསུངས། །དེ་དག་འགོག་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ་ཡང་གསུངས། །དགེ་སྦྱོང་ཆེན་པོས་དེ་སྐད་གསུངས་པ་ཡིན། ། followed by the Wylie chos rnams gang dag rgyu las byung ba de / de yi rgyu ni de bzhin gshegs pas gsungs / de dag 'gog pa gang yin pa yang gsungs / dge sbyong chen pos de skad gsungs pa yin / and the pronunciation Chö Nam Gang Dak Gyu Lay Jungwa Day / Day Yi Gyu Ni Dayzhin Shekpay Sung / Day Dak Gokpa Gang Yinpa Yang Sung / Gejong Chenpö Day Kay Sungpa Yin /. This concise stanza translates into English as stating that of all phenomena arising from a cause, the Tathagata has proclaimed their cause, and he has also proclaimed their cessation, for such is the teaching of the Great Ascetic.
Philosophically, this verse encapsulates the entire architecture of dependent co-arising, karma, and liberation from samsara. The first two lines establish the principle of conditioned existence, showing that no aspect of dukkha or the five aggregates arises randomly or from an eternal creator, but rather emerges through interdependent causes and conditions driven by ignorance and the three poisons. The third line reveals the liberating corollary of emptiness and nirvana, demonstrating that because suffering is conditionally produced, removing its root causes inevitably brings about its complete cessation. When Shariputra heard these words spoken with serene equanimity and skillful means, his analytical mind immediately penetrated right view and anicca, realizing that whatever is subject to origination is inherently subject to cessation, thereby triggering his initial awakening and leading both him and Maudgalyayana to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
Over subsequent centuries across India, Tibet, and East Asia, this Ye Dharma Hetu formula became the quintessential consecration mantra inscribed inside stupas, statues, and reliquaries to infuse physical objects with the living presence of Shakyamuni Buddha's wisdom. It is preserved throughout canonical scriptures, including the Pratityasamutpadadivibhanga Nirdesha Sutra in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 211, the Mahavagga of the Vinaya in Toh Number 1, and across the Chinese Tripitaka in texts such as the Mahasamghika Vinaya cataloged as Taisho Number 1425 and the Shalistamba Sutra translations in Taisho Number 708 and Taisho Number 709. Celebrated by later Buddhist Masters such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and Atisha, the verse remains a foundational bridge between early discourses on anatta and Mahayana expositions on emptiness of self, bodhicitta, and the Middle Way.
The first half of the Ye Dharma Hetu verse establishes the universal law of dependent origination and conditioned existence within samsara, beginning with the relative pronoun ये - ye (which, masculine nominative plural), corresponding to the Tibetan script གང་དག་ gang dag Gang Dak, and the noun धर्माः - dharmāḥ (phenomena, dharmas, or elements of existence, masculine nominative plural, modified by sandhi to धर्मा - dharmā), corresponding to ཆོས་རྣམས་ chos rnams Chö Nam. This is followed by the compound adjective हेतुप्रभवाः - hetuprabhavāḥ (arising from a cause, masculine nominative plural, rendered as हेतुप्रभवा - hetuprabhavā), combining हेतु - hetu (cause) and प्रभव - prabhava (origin or source), corresponding to རྒྱུ་ལས་བྱུང་བ་ rgyu las byung ba Gyu Lay Jungwa. The second line introduces the accusative singular noun हेतुम् - hetum (the cause, written हेतुं - hetuṃ), the demonstrative pronoun तेषाम् - teṣām (of those, masculine genitive plural, corresponding to དེ་ཡི་ de yi Day Yi), the subject तथागतः - tathāgataḥ (the Tathagata or Buddha, masculine nominative singular, modified to तथागतो - tathāgato, corresponding to དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་ de bzhin gshegs pas Dayzhin Shekpay), and the verb phrase ह्यवदत् - hyavadat, a sandhi combination of the emphatic particle हि - hi (indeed) and the imperfect active third-person singular verb अवदत् - avadat (spoke or proclaimed, corresponding to གསུངས gsungs Sung), demonstrating that all conditioned states including dukkha and the five aggregates arise strictly through karma and interdependent conditions rather than chance or a creator.
The second half of the stanza reveals the liberating path of wisdom and nirvana, opening with तेषाम् - teṣām (of those, masculine genitive plural, written तेषां - teṣāṃ, corresponding to དེ་དག་ de dag Day Dak), the conjunction च - ca (and), the masculine nominative singular relative pronoun यः - yaḥ (which, modified by sandhi to यो - yo, corresponding to གང་ཡིན་པ་ gang yin pa Gang Yinpa), and the masculine nominative singular noun निरोधः - nirodhaḥ (cessation or extinguishment, modified to निरोध - nirodha, corresponding to འགོག་པ་ 'gog pa Gokpa), which implicitly connects to the verb अवदत् - avadat (proclaimed) from the preceding line to signify the third of the Four Noble Truths. The final line concludes with the masculine nominative singular compound एवंवादी - evaṃvādī (one who speaks or teaches thus, combining the indeclinable एवम् - evam meaning thus and the agent noun वादिन् - vādin meaning speaker, corresponding to དེ་སྐད་གསུངས་པ་ de skad gsungs pa Day Kay Sungpa) and the masculine nominative singular title महाश्रमणः - mahāśramaṇaḥ (the Great Ascetic, combining महा - mahā meaning great and श्रमण - śramaṇa meaning ascetic or recluse, corresponding to དགེ་སྦྱོང་ཆེན་པོས་ dge sbyong chen pos Gejong Chenpö).
Philosophically, this grammatical structure encapsulates the entire trajectory of awakening taught by Shakyamuni Buddha in the 6th century BCE and preserved across canonical collections such as the Pratityasamutpadadivibhanga Nirdesha Sutra in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 211, the Mahavagga in Toh Number 1, and the Mahasamghika Vinaya in the Chinese Tripitaka as Taisho Number 1425. By linking हेतुप्रभवाः - hetuprabhavāḥ (causal origination) directly with निरोधः - nirodhaḥ (cessation), the verse demonstrates that because all phenomena exist through dependent co-arising, they lack inherent independent existence, directly illuminating anicca, anatta, and emptiness of self. When Ashvajit recited these precise words in Rajagriha during the 6th century BCE or 5th century BCE, Shariputra immediately grasped the Middle Way and right view, recognizing that dismantling the three poisons removes the fuel of rebirth and culminates in supreme equanimity, non-attachment, and parinirvana, a foundational insight later elaborated by Buddhist Masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Vasubandhu.
How Nagarjuna interpreted the Ye Dharma Hetu verse and dependent origination in his Madhyamaka philosophy
Nagarjuna (नागार्जुन - Nāgārjuna; ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ། klu sgrub Ludrup), living in India during the 2nd century to 3rd century (traditionally 150 to 250), transformed the early Buddhist understanding of the Ye Dharma Hetu verse into the philosophical cornerstone of Madhyamaka (मध्यमक - Madhyamaka; དབུ་མ་པ། dbu ma pa Uma Pa). Whereas earlier scholastic traditions interpreted dependent origination (प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद - pratītyasamutpāda; རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ། rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba Tenching Drelwar Jungwa) primarily as a temporal sequence of real, intrinsically existing causes producing real effects across rebirth and samsara, Nagarjuna demonstrated that the very fact that phenomena arise from causes proves they lack inherent, independent self-nature (स्वभाव - svabhāva; རང་བཞིན། rang bzhin Rangzhin). In his seminal treatise, the Mulamadhyamakakarika (मूलमध्यमककारिका - Mūlamadhyamakakārikā; དབུ་མ་རྩ་བའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ་ཤེས་རབ་ཅེས་བྱ་བ། dbu ma rtsa ba'i tshig le'ur byas pa shes rab ces bya ba Uma Tsaway Tsikleur Jaypa Sherab Jayjawa), preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka as Toh Number 3824 and in the Chinese Tripitaka as Taisho Number 1564, he famously equated dependent co-arising directly with emptiness (शून्यता - śūnyatā; སྟོང་པ་ཉིད། stong pa nyid Tongpa Nyi) and the Middle Way.
Through this radical ontological insight, Nagarjuna reinterpreted the causal mechanics of the Ye Dharma Hetu verse—originally spoken by Ashvajit to Shariputra in Rajagriha—by showing that if a phenomenon existed by its own independent essence, it would be eternal, unproduced, and impervious to change, making both causal origination and cessation impossible. Therefore, Nagarjuna argued in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Mulamadhyamakakarika that everything works precisely because emptiness is possible, and nothing would work if things possessed fixed essence; without emptiness of self and anatta, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, karma, and the attainment of nirvana would all collapse. In this light, the cessation proclaimed by the Tathagata in the verse is not the destruction of a real substance, nor is nirvana a separate realm divorced from samsara, but rather the complete pacification of conceptual proliferation and grasping at the five aggregates and the three poisons.
By harmonizing the Ye Dharma Hetu formula with the Mahayana Prajnaparamita sutras, such as the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra (Toh Number 12 and Taisho Number 224), Nagarjuna established the doctrine of the Two Truths—conventional truth and ultimate truth—which became essential for all subsequent Buddhist Masters including Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Candrakirti, Shantarakshita, and Tsongkhapa. On the conventional level, dependent origination operates reliably through causes, conditions, ethical conduct, generosity, and merit, while on the ultimate level, every conditioned phenomenon is empty of intrinsic existence from the very moment it arises. Cultivating this profound right view through meditation, mindfulness, and wisdom allows a bodhisattva to unite compassion, bodhicitta, and skillful means with non-attachment and equanimity, realizing ultimate awakening while remaining actively engaged in liberating beings from dukkha.