Yashas (6th century BCE) - यशस् - Yaśas - Yasa - གྲགས་པ། grags pa drakpa - 耶舍 耶舍, Yēshè - 야사 Yasa - 耶舎 Yasha - Yaśas
Yashas (यशस् - Yaśas; Yasa; གྲགས་པ། grags pa Drakpa) was the sixth person to attain full awakening under the guidance of Shakyamuni Buddha and an early founding member of the monastic Sangha. Born into an extraordinarily wealthy merchant family in Varanasi 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. Raised in immense luxury by his father, a prominent guild master, and his mother Sujata, Yashas enjoyed three seasonal palaces filled with music and sensual pleasures until one night he awakened to see his sleeping attendants in disarray, suddenly perceiving the pervasive reality of dukkha, anicca, and entanglement in samsara. Experiencing immediate spiritual disgust and an urgent desire for renunciation, he slipped on his golden sandals, left his mansion behind, and walked toward the Deer Park at Sarnath while exclaiming aloud that the world was distressed and afflicted.
Hearing his cry at dawn, Shakyamuni welcomed Yashas with profound compassion and skillful means, assuring him that he had arrived at a place free from distress and affliction. Utilizing a progressive discourse tailored to lay householders, the Buddha first taught him about generosity, ethical conduct, merit, the dangers of sensual craving, and the benefits of renunciation, before revealing the core Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, as recorded in the Mahavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka, preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka starting at Toh Number 1 and in the Chinese Tripitaka in texts such as Taisho Number 1421 and Taisho Number 1428. Immediately upon hearing this teaching on dependent origination and right view, Yashas attained the first stage of awakening, and when his wealthy father arrived searching for him and likewise heard the Dharma, Yashas listened again to the discourse, eradicated the three poisons, and achieved full liberation as an Arhat while his father became the very first lay follower to take formal refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
Following his ordination into the Sangha, Yashas's mother Sujata and his former wife also heard the Dharma from Shakyamuni and became the very first female lay devotees to take refuge in the Triple Gem, establishing the fourfold Buddhist assembly of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. Soon afterward, fifty-four of Yashas's close aristocratic friends from Varanasi—including Vimala, Subahu, Purnajit, and Gavampati—were inspired by his profound equanimity, non-attachment, and mastery over the five aggregates to practice renunciation, embrace meditation, mindfulness, and concentration, and attain full awakening as Arhat disciples, expanding the early Shravaka community to sixty liberated beings whom Shakyamuni sent forth to teach the Middle Way, loving-kindness, and nirvana before Yashas peacefully passed into parinirvana.
The fifty-four aristocratic companions of Yashas from Varanasi in ancient India during the 6th century BCE (whose exact year of birth and year of death are unrecorded, though they lived into the 5th century BCE) were prominent young men from leading merchant and guild families who abandoned their worldly wealth to join the nascent monastic Sangha. Led by four close associates—Vimala (विमल - Vimala; དྲི་མེད། dri med Drimay), Subahu (सुबाहु - Subāhu; ལག་བཟང་། lag bzang Lakzang), Purnajit (पूर्णजित् - Pūrṇajit; གང་རྒྱལ། gang rgyal Gang Gyal), and Gavampati (गवाम्पति - Gavāmpati; བ་ལང་བདག། ba lang bdag Balang Dak)—these four youths initially heard of Yashas's sudden renunciation and ordination under Shakyamuni Buddha and resolved to follow his noble example. Approaching the Deer Park at Sarnath, they took formal refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, received the gradual discourse on generosity, ethical conduct, merit, and the Four Noble Truths, and swiftly realized dependent origination and right view, attaining full awakening as Arhat disciples free from karma and samsara.
Inspired by the profound transformation of Yashas, Vimala, Subahu, Purnajit, and Gavampati, fifty additional wealthy companions from the surrounding countryside of Varanasi likewise renounced their luxurious lifestyles and approached Shakyamuni at Sarnath, as chronicled in the Mahavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka, preserved in the Tibetan Tripitaka starting at Toh Number 1 and in the Chinese Tripitaka in texts such as Taisho Number 1421 and Taisho Number 1428. Through dedicated meditation, mindfulness, and deep concentration along the Noble Eightfold Path, all fifty men penetrated the truths of anicca, anatta, and emptiness of self, eradicated the three poisons, and realized nirvana and liberation from dukkha and grasping at the five aggregates. Together with Ajnata Kaundinya, Vashpa, Bhadrika, Mahanaman, Ashvajit, Yashas, and his four closest friends, these fifty disciples completed the historic assembly of the first sixty Shravaka Arhat beings in the Buddhist world.
With sixty fully liberated disciples assembled at the Deer Park, Shakyamuni delivered his famous missionary charge, instructing them to wander forth in different directions—no two traveling the same road—out of compassion and loving-kindness for the welfare and happiness of all beings. Armed with supreme equanimity, non-attachment, wisdom, and skillful means, these sixty Arhat elders spread the teachings of the Middle Way and dependent co-arising across ancient India, establishing monastic communities and ordaining countless new followers. Notably, Gavampati later became celebrated for his extraordinary meditative powers and role in the First Council, while the collective dedication of these fifty-four companions ensured the rapid institutional foundation of the Dharma, inspiring future bodhisattvas and Buddhist Masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Atisha before they peacefully passed into parinirvana.