Saṃyutta Nikāya
I. Sagatha Vagga
2. Devaputta Saṃyutta
Sutta 26
Rohitassa Suttaṃ
Rohitassa the Deva's Son
Translated from the Pāḷi by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Sourced from dhammatalks.org
For free distribution only.
[26.1][rhyc] Dwelling at Sāvatthī. As he was standing to one side, Rohitassa the deva's son said to the Blessed One: "Is it possible, lord, by traveling, to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one doesn't take birth, age, die, pass away or reappear?"
"I tell you, friend, that it isn't possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one doesn't take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear."
"It's amazing, lord, and astounding, how well that has been said by the Lord Blessed One: 'I tell you, friend, that it isn't possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one doesn't take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear.' Once I was a seer named Rohitassa, a student of Bhoja, a powerful sky-walker. My speed was as fast as that of a strong archer—well trained, a practiced hand, a practiced sharpshooter—shooting a light arrow across the shadow of a palm tree. My stride stretched as far as the east sea is from the west. To me, there came the desire: 'I will go traveling to the end of the cosmos.' I— endowed with such speed, such a stride, with a one-hundred year life, a one-hundred year span—spent one hundred years traveling—apart from the time spent on eating, drinking, chewing and tasting, urinating and defecating, and sleeping to fight off weariness—but without reaching the end of the cosmos I died along the way.[1] So it's amazing, lord, and astounding, how well that has been said by the Lord Blessed One: 'I tell you, friend, that it isn't possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one doesn't take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear.'"
[When this was said, the Blessed One responded:] "I tell you, friend, that it isn't possible by traveling to know or see or reach a far end of the cosmos where one doesn't take birth, age, die, pass away, or reappear. But at the same time, I tell you that there is no making an end of suffering and stress without reaching the end of the cosmos. Yet it is just within this fathom-long body, with its perception and intellect, that I declare that there is the cosmos, the origination of the cosmos, the cessation of the cosmos, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of the cosmos."
It's not to be reached by traveling,
the end of the cosmos—
regardless.
And it's not without reaching
the end of the cosmos
that there is release
from suffering and stress.
So, truly, an expert
with regard to the cosmos,
intelligent,
a knower of the end of the cosmos,
having fulfilled the holy life,
knowing the cosmos' end,
concentrated,
doesn't long for this cosmos
or any other.
[1] In AN 4:45, which is otherwise virtually identical with this sutta, this passage reads: "To me, endowed with such speed, such a stride, there came the desire: 'I will go traveling to the end of the cosmos.' I—with a one-hundred year life, a one-hundred year span—spent one hundred years traveling—apart from the time spent on eating, drinking, chewing and tasting, urinating and defecating, and sleeping to fight off weariness—but without reaching the end of the cosmos I died along the way."
Of Related Interest:
DN 11;
SN 12:44;
SN 35:82;
SN 35:116;
AN 3:91;
AN 9:38;
AN 10:95
