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SN 2.26PTS (1st ed) SN 1.612 min read

With Rohitassa

Rohitassasutta

Rohitassa asks the Buddha if it is possible to reach the end of the world by traveling. The Buddha says no; and Rohitassa tells of how in a past life as a seer he had tried to accomplish this very feat and failed. The Buddha says the end of the world is found in this body.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 2.26Linked Discourses 2.26
  • 0.23. Nānātitthiyavagga3. Various Sectarians

0.3RohitassasuttaWith Rohitassa

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Ekamantaṁ ṭhito kho rohitasso devaputto bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:Standing to one side, the godling Rohitassa said to the Buddha:1

1.3“yattha nu kho, bhante, na jāyati na jīyati na mīyati na cavati na upapajjati, sakkā nu kho so, bhante, gamanena lokassa anto ñātuṁ vā daṭṭhuṁ vā pāpuṇituṁ vā”ti?“Sir, is it possible to know or see or reach the end of the world by traveling to a place where there’s no being born, growing old, dying, passing away, or being reborn?”

1.4“Yattha kho, āvuso, na jāyati na jīyati na mīyati na cavati na upapajjati, nāhaṁ taṁ gamanena lokassa antaṁ ñāteyyaṁ daṭṭheyyaṁ patteyyanti vadāmī”ti.“Reverend, I say it’s not possible to know or see or reach the end of the world by traveling to a place where there’s no being born, growing old, dying, passing away, or being reborn.”

2.1“Acchariyaṁ, bhante, abbhutaṁ, bhante.“It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing,2.2Yāvasubhāsitamidaṁ, bhante, bhagavatā:how well said this was by the Buddha.2.3‘yattha kho, āvuso, na jāyati na jīyati na mīyati na cavati na upapajjati, nāhaṁ taṁ gamanena lokassa antaṁ ñāteyyaṁ daṭṭheyyaṁ patteyyanti vadāmī’ti.

3.1Bhūtapubbāhaṁ, bhante, rohitasso nāma isi ahosiṁ bhojaputto iddhimā vehāsaṅgamo.Once upon a time, I was a seer named Rohitassa, son of the benefactors. I was a sky-walker with psychic powers.23.2Tassa mayhaṁ, bhante, evarūpo javo ahosi; seyyathāpi nāma daḷhadhammā dhanuggaho susikkhito katahattho katayoggo katūpāsano lahukena asanena appakasireneva tiriyaṁ tālacchāyaṁ atipāteyya.I was as fast as a light arrow easily shot across the shadow of a palm tree by a well-trained expert archer with a strong bow.33.3Tassa mayhaṁ, bhante, evarūpo padavītihāro ahosi; seyyathāpi nāma puratthimā samuddā pacchimo samuddo.My stride was such that it could span from the eastern ocean to the western ocean.43.4Tassa mayhaṁ, bhante, evarūpaṁ icchāgataṁ uppajji:This wish came to me:3.5‘ahaṁ gamanena lokassa antaṁ pāpuṇissāmī’ti.‘I will reach the end of the world by traveling.’3.6So khvāhaṁ, bhante, evarūpena javena samannāgato evarūpena ca padavītihārena, aññatreva asitapītakhāyitasāyitā aññatra uccārapassāvakammā aññatra niddākilamathapaṭivinodanā vassasatāyuko vassasatajīvī vassasataṁ gantvā appatvāva lokassa antaṁ antarāva kālaṅkato.Having such speed and stride, I traveled for my whole lifespan of a hundred years—pausing only to eat and drink, go to the toilet, and sleep to dispel weariness—and I passed away along the way, never reaching the end of the world.

4.1Acchariyaṁ, bhante, abbhutaṁ, bhante.It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing,4.2Yāvasubhāsitamidaṁ, bhante, bhagavatā:how well said this was by the Buddha.4.3‘yattha kho, āvuso, na jāyati na jīyati na mīyati na cavati na upapajjati, nāhaṁ taṁ gamanena lokassa antaṁ ñāteyyaṁ daṭṭheyyaṁ patteyyanti vadāmī’”ti.‘Reverend, I say it’s not possible to know or see or reach the end of the world by traveling to a place where there’s no being born, growing old, dying, passing away, or being reborn.’”

5.1“Na kho panāhaṁ, āvuso, appatvā lokassa antaṁ dukkhassa antakiriyaṁ vadāmi.“But Reverend, I also say there’s no making an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world.5.2Api ca khvāhaṁ, āvuso, imasmiṁyeva byāmamatte kaḷevare sasaññimhi samanake lokañca paññapemi lokasamudayañca lokanirodhañca lokanirodhagāminiñca paṭipadanti.For it is in this fathom-long carcass with its perception and mind that I describe the world, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.5

6.1Gamanena na pattabbo,The end of the world can never6.2lokassanto kudācanaṁ;be reached by traveling.6.3Na ca appatvā lokantaṁ,But without reaching the end of the world,6.4dukkhā atthi pamocanaṁ.there’s no release from suffering.

7.1Tasmā have lokavidū sumedho,So an intelligent person, understanding the world,7.2Lokantagū vusitabrahmacariyo;has completed the spiritual journey <j>and gone to the end of the world.7.3Lokassa antaṁ samitāvi ñatvā,Assuaged, knowing the end of the world,7.4Nāsīsati lokamimaṁ parañcā”ti.they do not hope for this world or the next.”

Translator’s notes

  1. Rohitassa (“red horse”) is Agni in his manifestation as the swift sunbeam, breaking over the mountains and flashing across the sky. Agni was he of red horses (rohidaśva, Rig Veda 1.45.2, 4.1.8, 8.43.16, 10.7.4, 10.98.9; see 2.10.2). This can mean the tongues of the ritual fire whose message is speedily conveyed to the gods, but especially the “ruddy steed” swift as the wind (aruṣā rohitā, 1.94.10), the “red horses of the dawn” (aruṇebhir aśvair, Rig Veda 1.113.14, see 4.52.2, 6.65.2, 7.75.6). The current Sutta seems to draw on the conception of Rohita in Atharvaveda 13, glorifying Agni as the Sun, who “arrives in a flash” (13.2.15), “swift” (13.2.2), “rushing” (13.2.19), “traversing the sky” (13.2.22), radiating as far as worlds extend (13.2.42, 13.2.10, 13.1.16), racing over the world never letting his thought stray (13.2.15). The “Sun’s bay horses” (sūryasyāśvā harayaḥ, 13.1.24) are seven ruddy steeds who carry it, spreading out its rays (13.2.4, 13.3.16).

    ↩ sn2.26:1.2

  2. The coming of the dawn was greeted with priestly gifts offered by benefactors (bhoja). These benefactors may be the Aṅgīrasas, shining poets who ushered in the dawn (RV 3.53.7), or else the Aśvins, horse deities driving the Sun’s chariot and close with the Sun’s daughter (4.43.2, 8.8.2), or the dawns themselves (4.51.3, 7.79.3, 8.25.21).

    ↩ sn2.26:3.1

  3. Taught as a parable by the Buddha to two brahmin cosmologists (lokāyatikā) at AN 9.38:4.1.

    In the Pali, as in my translation, there is no explicit logical connection between this phrase and the next. But there is in the parallel at SA 1307, which says Rohitassa (赤馬) could cross from sea to sea in the time an arrow crossed a palm tree shadow.

    ↩ sn2.26:3.2

  4. It has been pointed out that a swift arrow can fly at 250 feet/s, which would take 0.008 seconds to cross the width of a palm trunk of two feet. India ocean to ocean is about 2400 km. To cross it in 0.008 seconds would require a velocity of around 300,000 km/s—the speed of light.

    ↩ sn2.26:3.3

  5. This echoes Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 1.2.5.14 and 7.1.1.37, where the fire altar is measured out as a fathom (vyāmamātra), for this is the length of a human. The altar and the human person encompass the whole world.

    ↩ sn2.26:5.2