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Anguttara Nikaya

# AN 4.45 Paṭhama Rohitassa Sutta (To Rohitassa: Son of the Gods - Part 1) AN 4.45

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- The Numerical Discourses: Book IV: Suttas 41-50, "The Section on Rohitassa." (Duration: 36:24)

## Text

    [page 1]
    AN 4.45
    Paṭhama Rohitassa Sutta
    “To Rohitassa: Son of the Gods – Part 1”
    Translated by Bhikkhu Candana

    Copyright © Bhikkhu Candana 2022

    At one time, the Blessed One was living in the monastery offered by
    Anāthapindika in Jeta's grove, at Sāvatthi. When the night was far spent, Rohitassa the
    son of the gods, while illuminated the entire Jeta's grove with a dazzling light,
    approached the Blessed One, and after paying obeisance to him, stood to one side and
    said:

    “Bhante, is it possible to reach the end of the world by traveling, and to come to see or
    achieve that state whereby one can no longer be born, grow old and decay, no longer be
    subject to death; a place where there is no more dying and no more rebirth?”

    “Friend, I declare that it is impossible to reach the end of the world by traveling, and to
    come to see or achieve that state whereby one can no longer be born, grow old and decay,
    and no longer be subject to death; a place where there is no more dying and no more
    rebirth.”

    “Bhante, it is both wonderful and amazing, how these true words of the Blessed One are
    stated!”

    ‘Friend, I declare that one cannot reach the end of the world by traveling, and to come to
    see or achieve that state whereby one can no longer be born, grow old and decay, and no
    longer be subject to death; a place where there is no more dying and no more rebirth.’

    “Bhante, in the past I was born as the son of Bhoja, and my name was Rohitassa. In
    possessing psychic powers, I would travel through the skies.

    “Bhante, I was faster in speed than the flight of a straight arrow, shot from a powerful
    bow in the hands of a strong and dexterous archer, as it traveled the distance of a palm
    tree’s shadow, end to end, as I reached the target before it did. Such was my speed.

    “Bhante, my leaping stride was such, that I could put one foot on the eastern ocean and
    land the other on the western ocean. In possessing such speed and that stride, the desire
    arose to me, ‘I want to reach the end of the world.’ So, I travelled for a hundred years, the
    entire duration of my life span, I stopped only to eat, drink, taste, and enjoy. I would rest,
    urinate, and defecate, as I also rested to overcome my sleepiness and exhaustion, but even

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    though my lifespan expired, I still did not reach the end of the world. So, I died on the
    way.

    “Bhante, it is wonderful and amazing to hear the true words of the Blessed One:

    “Friend, I declare that one cannot reach the end of the world by traveling, and to come to
    see or achieve that state whereby one can no longer be born, grow old and decay, and no
    longer be subject to death; a place where there is no more dying and no more rebirth.”

    And the Blessed One added,

    “Indeed friend, I declare that one cannot reach the end of the world by traveling, and to
    come to see or achieve that state whereby one can no longer be born, grow old and decay,
    and no longer be subject to death; a place where there is no more dying and no more
    rebirth.”

    “Yet friend, I say that without having reached the end of the world, one cannot put an end
    to suffering. For it is in this perceptive and conscious fathom-long body that is found the
    world, the origin and cause of the world, the ending of the world, and the Path leading to
    the ending of the world.”

    “By traveling across the world,
    The end of the world can never be reached.
    Neither can there be release from suffering,
    Without first coming to the end…of the world.

    “By living the Holy Life,
    The Wise Knower of the worlds,
    Reached the end of the world.
    And having gone to the world’s end, is now at peace.
    No longer desiring for this or any other world.”

    Sadhu
    Sadhu
    Sadhu

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