1At Sāvatthī. Then a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him:

"Venerable sir, how long is an aeon?" [n.256] Kappa. Apparently a mahākappa is intended, the length of time needed for a world system to arise, develop, and perish. Each mahākappa consists of four asaṅkheyyakappas, periods of expansion, stabilization, contraction, and dissolution: see AN II 142,15–28.

"An aeon is long, bhikkhu. It is not easy to count it and say it is so many years, or so many hundreds of years, or so many thousands of years, or so many hundreds of thousands of years."

2"Then is it possible to give a simile, venerable sir?"

"It is possible, bhikkhu," the Blessed One said. "Suppose, bhikkhu, there was a great stone mountain a yojana long, a yojana wide, and a yojana high, without holes or crevices, one solid mass of rock. At the end of every hundred years a man would stroke it once with a piece of Kasian cloth. [n.257] Kāsikena vatthena. Although this is often understood to be silk, Spk explains it to be an extremely delicate cloth made of thread spun from three fibres of cotton. That great stone mountain might by this effort be worn away and eliminated but the aeon would still not have come to an end. So long is an aeon, bhikkhu. sn.ii.182 And of aeons of such length, we have wandered through so many aeons, so many hundreds of aeons, so many thousands of aeons, so many hundreds of thousands of aeons. For what reason? Because, bhikkhu, this saṁsara is without discoverable beginning … . It is enough to be liberated from them."

1Sāvatthiyaṁ vihārati … pe … ārāme … pe … . Atha kho aññataro bhikkhu yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:

"kīvadīgho nu kho, bhante, kappo"ti?

"Dīgho kho, bhikkhu, kappo. So na sukaro saṅkhātuṁ ettakāni vassāni iti vā, ettakāni vassasatāni iti vā, ettakāni vassasahassāni iti vā, ettakāni vassasatasahassāni iti vā"ti.

2"Sakkā pana, bhante, upamaṁ kātun"ti?

"Sakkā, bhikkhū"ti bhagavā avoca. "Seyyathāpi, bhikkhu, mahāselo pabbato yojanaṁ āyāmena yojanaṁ vitthārena yojanaṁ ubbedhena acchinno asusiro ekagghano. Tamenaṁ puriso vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena kāsikena vatthena sakiṁ sakiṁ parimajjeyya. Khippataraṁ kho so, bhikkhu, mahāselo pabbato iminā upakkamena parikkhayaṁ pariyādānaṁ gaccheyya, na tveva kappo. Evaṁ dīgho, bhikkhu, kappo. Evaṁ dīghānaṁ kho, bhikkhu, kappānaṁ neko kappo saṁsito, nekaṁ kappasataṁ saṁsitaṁ, nekaṁ kappasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ, nekaṁ kappasatasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ. Taṁ kissa hetu? Anamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhu, saṁsāro. Pubbā koṭi … pe … yāvañcidaṁ, bhikkhu, alameva sabbasaṅkhāresu nibbindituṁ, alaṁ virajjituṁ, alaṁ vimuccitun"ti.

Pañcamaṁ.