[1465] S. One endowed with the power of psychic potency (iddhibala) could remain for an eon (kappa)?
P. Yes.
S. But was it not said by the Blessed One: "Bhikkhus, for four things (dhammā) there is no guarantor (pāṭibhoga) whatsoever — whether an ascetic (samaṇa), a brahmin, a deva, Māra, Brahmā, or anyone in the world. Which four? 'May one subject to aging not age' — for this there is no guarantor whatsoever, whether an ascetic, a brahmin, a deva, Māra, Brahmā, or anyone in the world; 'may one subject to illness not fall ill' … 'may one subject to death not die' … And as for those evil deeds (kamma) done in the past — defiled, conducive to renewed existence, yielding suffering (dukkha), ripening in suffering, tending to future birth, aging, and death (jāti, jarā, maraṇa) — 'may the result (vipāka) of these not come to be' — for this there is no guarantor whatsoever, whether an ascetic, a brahmin, a deva, Māra, Brahmā, or anyone in the world. For these four things, bhikkhus, there is no guarantor whatsoever — whether an ascetic, a brahmin, a deva, Māra, Brahmā, or anyone in the world"?¹ Is there indeed such a discourse (suttanta)?
P. Yes.
S. Then indeed it should not be said that one endowed with the power of psychic potency could remain for an eon.
[Here ends] the Discussion of the Power of Psychic Potency (Iddhibalakathā).
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¹ Aṅ. Catukka 239.
Discussion of Concentration (Samādhikathā)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.