Rohitassa Sutta

Translation by Bhikkhuni Uppalavanna

1. The Blessed One was living in Sàvatthi.

2. Rohita, the son of the gods standing on a side said this in the presence of the Blessed One.


 * "Venerable sir, is it possible to know, see, and attain that state where there isn't birth, decay, death, decrease and rebirth by traveling, to the end of the world?"

3. "Friend, I say, it is not possible to know, see, and attain that state where there isn't birth, decay, death, decrease and rebirth by traveling, to the end of the world."

4. "Venerable sir, these are good words of the Blessed One. `Friend, I say it is not possible to know, see, and attain that state where there isn't birth, decay, death, decrease and rebirth by traveling, to the end of the world'

5. Venerable sir, in the past there was a sage named Rohita, the son of Bhoja. He was very powerful and travelled, through the air.

Venerable sir, it was me and I had a speed similar to the speed of a well trained archer who could split a palm, shooting with his bow and bring it down in no time.

6. If I put one foot in the eastern ocean, the other was in the western, such was my span. And I had a wish like this, by walking I shall arrive at the end of the world.

7. Venerable sir, endowed with that speed and span of walking, I, a being with a life span of a hundred years and living a hundred years, did not stop other than for eating drinking, enjoying food, for urinating and excreting, other than to dispel sleepiness and tiredness. Yet I died before reaching the end of the world, at the end of the hundred years.

8. Venerable sir, these words of the Blessed One are wonderful and surprising. `Friend, I say, it is not possible to know, see, and attain that state where there isn't birth, decay, death, decrease and rebirth by traveling, to the end of the world'

9. "Yet, friend, without reaching the end of the world, I say, there is no ending of un Ý pleasantness. Yet friend, in this fathom long body, this perceptive form, I appoint the world, its arising, its ceasing and the path leading to its cessation.

10. "The end of the world cannot be reached by traveling.
 * Yet, without coming to the end of the world,
 * there's no release from unpleasantness.
 * Therefore be wise, know the nature of the world.
 * Lead the holy life to the end of the world.
 * The appeased, know the end of the world.
 * And do not wish for, this or the other world."