[45] On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī, in Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's park. Then, when the night was far advanced, the devaputta Rohitassa, of surpassing beauty, illuminating the entire Jeta's Grove, approached the Blessed One; having approached and paid homage to the Blessed One, he stood to one side. Standing to one side, the devaputta Rohitassa said this to the Blessed One:
"Venerable sir, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn — is it possible, venerable sir, by traveling to know, to see, or to reach that end of the world?"
"Friend, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn — that end of the world, I say, cannot be known, seen, or reached by traveling."
"It is marvellous, venerable sir! It is astonishing, venerable sir! How well this has been spoken by the Blessed One: 'Friend, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn — that end of the world, I say, cannot be known, seen, or reached by traveling.' Once in the past, venerable sir, I was a seer named Rohitassa, son of Bhoja, possessed of psychic power, able to travel through the sky. My speed, venerable sir, was such that, just as a firm-bowed archer — well trained, dexterous, practised in display — might with a light arrow easily shoot across the shadow of a palm tree, even so was my speed; and my stride was such that it reached, as it were, from the eastern ocean to the western ocean. Venerable sir, in me, endowed with such speed and with such a stride, a wish of this kind arose: 'I shall reach the end of the world by traveling.' And so, venerable sir — apart from the time spent eating, drinking, chewing, and tasting, apart from answering the calls of nature, apart from dispelling sleep and fatigue — having a lifespan of a hundred years, living a hundred years, I traveled for a hundred years and, without reaching the end of the world, I died along the way. It is marvellous, venerable sir! It is astonishing, venerable sir! How well this has been spoken by the Blessed One: 'Friend, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn — that end of the world, I say, cannot be known, seen, or reached by traveling.'"
"Friend, where one is not born, does not age, does not die, does not pass away, and is not reborn — that end of the world, I say, cannot be known, seen, or reached by traveling. Yet, friend, I do not say that without having reached the end of the world there is a making of an end of suffering (dukkha). Rather, friend, it is in this very fathom-long carcass, endowed with perception and mind, that I declare the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the way of practice leading to the cessation of the world.
The end of the world can never
be reached by traveling;
yet without reaching the world's end
there is no release from suffering.
Therefore, truly, the wise one, knower of the world,
gone to the world's end, the holy life fulfilled,
being at peace, having known the end of the world,
does not long for this world or another."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.