Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
15. Anamat'agga-Saṃyuttaṃ
II. Dutiya Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
II. The Book Called the Nidāna-Vagga
Containing Kindred sayings on Cause
and Other Subjects
15. Kindred Sayings on the Incalculable Beginning
2. [Untitled]
Sutta 20
Vepulla-Pabbata Suttaṃ
Mount Vipula
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Assisted by F. L. Woodward
Originally Published by
The Pali Text Society
Public Domain
[1] Thus have I heard:
The Exalted One was at Rājagaha
on Vulture's Peak.
And there the Exalted One addressed the brethren, saying:
"Brethren!"
"Master!" responded those brethren.
The Exalted One said:
"Incalculable is the beginning, brethren,
of this faring on.
The earliest point is not revealed
of the running on, the faring on,
of beings cloaked in ignorance,
tied to craving.
§
There was once a time, brethren,
when this Mount Vipula[1]
was given the name East Ridge.
At that time
the people [here] were given the name of Tivaras,
and the measure of their life
was forty thousand years.
It took those Tivaras [129] four days
to climb Mount East Ridge
and four days to descend it.
At that time Kakusandha,
Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had arisen in the world.
And he had a pair of disciples as chief,
Vidhura and Sañjīva,
a comely pair.[2]
Behold, brethren,
how both the name of this hill has disappeared,
how those people have died
and how that Exalted One
has passed utterly away!
So impermanent, brethren,
are the things of this world,
so transient are they,
so comfortless are they.
Thus far enough is there, brethren,
for you to feel repelled
by all the things of this world,
enough to lose all passion for them,
enough to be liberated therefrom.
■
There was once a time, brethren,
when this Mount Vipula
was given the name of Vankaka.[3]
At that time the people [here]
were given the name of Rohitassas,
and the measure of their life
was thirty thousand years.
It took those Rohitassas
three days to climb Mount Vankaka
and three days to descend it.
At that time Konāgamana,
Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme,
had arisen in the world.
And he had a pair of disciples as chief,
Bhiyyosa and Uttara,
a comely pair.
Behold, brethren,
how both the name of this hill has disappeared,
how those people have died
and how that Exalted One
has passed utterly away!
So impermanent, brethren,
are the things of this world,
so transient are they,
so comfortless are they.
Thus far enough is there, brethren,
for you to feel repelled
by all the things of this world,
enough to lose all passion for them,
enough to be liberated therefrom.
■
There was once a time, brethren,
when this Mount Vipula
was given the name of Fairside.
At that time the people [here]
were given the name of Suppiyas,
and the measure of their life
was twenty thousand years.
It took those Suppiyas
two days to climb Mount Fairside
and two days to descend it.
At that time Kassapa,
Exalted One,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme
had arisen in the world.
And he had a pair of disciples as chief,
Tissa and Bhāradvāja,
a comely pair.
[130] Behold, brethren,
how both the name of this hill has disappeared,
how those people have died
and how that Exalted One
has passed utterly away!
So impermanent, brethren,
are the things of this world,
so transient are they,
so comfortless are they.
Thus far enough is there, brethren,
for you to feel repelled
by all the things of this world,
enough to lose all passion for them,
enough to be liberated therefrom.
■
But now, brethren, to this Mount Vipula
has come just the name 'Vipula.'
But now, brethren, to these people
has come just the name 'Magadhese'.
The measure of the age of the Magadhese
is small,
very limited,
fleeting.
He who lives long
lives for a hundred years
or but little more.
The men of Magadha
climb Mount Vipula
in a little while,
descend it in a little while.
But now, brethren,
I have arisen in the world,
Arahant,
Buddha Supreme.
But I have a pair of disciples as chief,
Sāriputta and Moggallāna,
a comely pair.
There will come a time, brethren,
when both the name of this hill will disappear,
when these people will die
and when I shall pass utterly away.
So impermanent, brethren,
are the things of this world,
so transient are they,
so comfortless are they.
Thus far enough is there, brethren,
for you to feel repelled
by all the things of this world,
enough to lose all passion for them,
enough to be liberated therefrom."
The Exalted One spake this;
the Wellfarer so speaking,
the Master spake this further:
East Ridge this mountain for the Tivaras,
And Crooked Crest for Rohitassa folk,
Fairside its name among the Suppiyas,
Now for the Magadhese't is Vipula.
Alas! impermanent is all this world.
Growth is its very nature and decay.
Things spring to being and again they cease.
Happy the mastery of them and the peace.[4]
[1] Or Vepulla. On the surviving wrecks of these great hills round Rāgagaha, see Pss. of the Sisters, pp. 28, 66; Pss. of the Brethren, p. 364; Cunningham's Archceological Survey (Rājgir), iii, Pl. xli. There wae evidently a settlement or 'vihara' on Vulture's Peak.
[2] These three chief pairs are given in the Nidana (introductory narrative) to the Jātakas. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 50f. The Comy. renders bhaddayugaṃ by sundarayugaṃ.
[3] = 'Crooked.' Cf. Therīgāthā Comy., p. 15.
