[202] 4. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant — so I have heard:
"Bhikkhus, for one person running on and wandering for an eon (kappa), there would be a skeleton, a pile of bones, a heap of bones as great as this Mount Vepulla — if there were someone to collect them, and if what was collected were not to perish."
The Blessed One spoke this matter. In connection with it, this is said:
"The accumulation of a single person's bones
in one single eon
would be a heap equal to a mountain —
so it was said by the Great Seer (mahesi).
And this is declared to be
the great Mount Vepulla,
north of Gijjhakūṭa,
in Giribbaja of the Magadhans.
But when with right wisdom one sees
the noble truths (ariyasacca) —
suffering (dukkha), the arising of suffering,
the overcoming of suffering,
and the noble eightfold path (magga)
that leads to the stilling of suffering —
then that person, having run on
seven times at most,
becomes one who makes an end of suffering
through the destruction of all fetters (saṃyojana)."
This matter too was spoken by the Blessed One; so I have heard.
The Fourth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.