Dhammanusari

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi, in Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. At an advanced hour of the night Rohitassa, a son of the deva, approached the Blessed One, and in resplendent beauty shed his brilliant light over the entire Jeta Grove. Having come to the Blessed One, he paid homage to him, stood at one side, and said:

“Is it possible, O Lord, that by going one can know, see or reach the end of the world, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn?”

“I declare, O friend, that by going it is not possible to know, see or reach the end  of the world, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn.”

“It is wonderful, Lord! It is amazing, Lord, how well it was said by the Blessed One that by going it is not possible to know, see or reach the end of the world, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn.

Once in a former life I was a seer named Rohitassa, Bhoja’s son. Endowed with supernormal power I could walk through the sky. Such, Lord, was my speed that in the time needed for a strong, skilled, experienced and trained archer to shoot easily, with a swift arrow, across the shadow of a palm tree – in such time I could take a step as long as the distance between the eastern and the western sea. Endowed with such speed and such a stride, I wanted to reach the end of the world by walking. And with my lifespan of a hundred years, except the time needed to eat and drink, to urinate and defecate, to sleep and rest, I walked for a hundred years, and without reaching the world’s end I died along the way.”

“It is wonderful, Lord! It is amazing, Lord, how well it was said by the Blessed One that by going it is not possible to know, see or reach the end of the world, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn.”

“Indeed, friend, so do I declare. But I do not say that one can make and end to suffering without having reached the end of the world. And I further proclaim, friend, that it is in this fathom-long body with its perceptions and thoughts that there is the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.”

Numerical Discourses of the Buddha
An anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikāya
Selected and translated from the Pāli by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi

Get Sutta delivered by email