อนุทิน 115185

Buddha Vacana (October 8, 2555)

When the night was fading, Rohitassa, a son of the gods, came to see the Lord, lighting up all the Jeta Grove with a surpassing brilliance, and saluting him stood to one side and asked: “Lord, is it possible by going far to know, to see, to reach the end of the world, that is, where there is no more being born, growing old and dying, no more trudging on from one existence to another?”

“I say that the end of the world cannot be known, seen or reached by going.”

“Wonderful!  Marvelous!  This is well said by the Lord.  In my last life I was a sage named Rohitassa, son of Bhoja.  I had such psychic power that I could walk in the sky and my speed was such that I could go faster than an arrow.  The extent of my stride was the distance between the east and west ocean.  And I thought to myself: ‘I am going to reach the end of the world.’ Except for time spent eating, drinking and answering the call of nature, except for struggles to shake off sleep and weariness, though I lived and traveled for a hundred years, I never reached the end of the world.  I died trying.”

Then the Lord said: “I say that the ending of suffering cannot be found without going to the end of the world.  And within this fathom-high body with its perceptions and thoughts is the world, the origin of the world, the ending of the world and the practice leading to the end of the world.”

-- A.II,47–8
<Modern days' travellers are jet hopping around the globe chasing histories and dreams, never finding for a fleeting moment 'peace inside themselves'.>