Yushamin, called the Second Life and 'the Ancient One', is the first emanation to issue from the Great Life and stands at the head of the descending hierarchy of Lives. His role is comparatively obscure: the chief narrative attached to him is that of rebellion. Wishing to create a world of his own, he opposes the King of Light and is punished for it, though he is ultimately pardoned. The opening chapters of the Mandaean Book of John recount the progress of the rebellion of Yushamin and his sons and their eventual reconciliation. Buckley reads him as both a faultless light-world uthra and the prototype of a priest who has erred in ritual. He is the father of Abathur, the Third Life.