Aṇguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVI: Indriya Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fours
XVI: Controlling Powers
Sutta 156
The Æon
Translated from the Pali by F. L. Woodward, M.A.
Copyright The Pali Text Society
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[1] 'Monks, there are these four incalculable periods of the æon.[1]
What four?
When the æon rolls up,
it is no easy thing to reckon:
So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.
When the æon being rolled up stands still,
it is no easy thing to reckon:
So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.
When the æon rolls out it is no easy thing to reckon:
So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.
When the æon being rolled out stands still, it is no easy thing to reckon:
So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.
These, monks, are the four incalculable periods of the æon.'
[1] Cf. D. i, 14, iii, 109; Mil. Pañh. 232; Pts. of Contr. 268. Our Comy. on the passage = VM., p. 414, hut the ref. there given to this passage is wrong. 'Rolls up and out' approaches our in- and e-volution.
