Vashpa (6th century BCE) - वाष्प - Vāṣpa - Vappa - རླངས་པ། rlangs pa langpa - 婆敷 婆敷, Pófū - 바부 Babu - 婆敷 Bafu - Vāṣpa
Vashpa (वाष्प - Vāṣpa; རླངས་པ། rlangs pa Langpa) was one of the five original ascetic companions of Shakyamuni Buddha and an early founding 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. Inspired by his father, who was one of the eight Brahmin scholars invited by King Shuddhodana to interpret the auspicious marks on the infant Prince Siddhartha, Vashpa practiced complete renunciation alongside Ajnata Kaundinya, Ashvajit, Bhadrika, and Mahanaman. Together, these five ascetics joined the prince in the forests of Uruvela, engaging in six years of severe self-mortification until Shakyamuni realized that extreme austerity only hindered spiritual progress and adopted the Middle Way.
Following the Buddha's complete awakening beneath the Bodhi tree, Vashpa reunited with him at the Deer Park in Sarnath, where he listened attentively to 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. Taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, Vashpa swiftly achieved the initial stage of awakening upon receiving personalized instruction while his companions went on alms rounds. Shortly thereafter, upon hearing the Anatmalakshana Sutra on anatta and the emptiness of self—preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka within the Vinaya collections starting at Toh Number 1 and in the Chinese Tripitaka in Taisho Number 99 and Taisho Number 1428—he contemplated the impermanent nature of the five aggregates, purified his mind of the three poisons, and attained full liberation as an Arhat.
As one of the earliest Shravaka disciples to realize nirvana and complete freedom from karma, dukkha, and the cycles of samsara, Vashpa exemplified unwavering ethical conduct, mindfulness, and deep concentration. Through dedicated meditation and right effort, he mastered equanimity, non-attachment, and right view, assisting Shakyamuni in establishing the foundational monastic community across ancient India through skillful means, compassion, and loving-kindness. His exemplary devotion to dependent origination and dependent co-arising inspired future generations of bodhisattvas and Buddhist Masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Atisha before Vashpa peacefully passed into parinirvana.