[432] "It is possible, bhikkhu," the Blessed One said. "Suppose, bhikkhu, there were a city of iron, a yojana in length, a yojana in width, a yojana in height, filled with mustard seeds packed together in a solid mass. From it a man would remove one mustard seed at the end of every hundred years. That great heap of mustard seeds, bhikkhu, would more quickly be exhausted and used up by this effort than would an aeon (kappa) come to an end. So long, bhikkhu, is an aeon. And of aeons so long, bhikkhu, not just one aeon has been wandered through, not just a hundred aeons have been wandered through, not just a thousand aeons have been wandered through, not just a hundred thousand aeons have been wandered through. For what reason? Without discoverable beginning, bhikkhu, is this saṃsāra … enough to be liberated."
The Sixth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.