Thus have I heard—At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling in Sāvatthi, in Jeta‘s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s park.
Then, a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One. Having drawn near to him, he paid homage and sat down to one side. Sitting to one side, that bhikkhu said this to the Blessed One: “Venerable sir, how long is an |aeon::lifespan of a world system, a vast cosmic time span [kappa]|?”
“An aeon is long, bhikkhu. It is not easy to count it as so many years, or so many hundreds of years, or so many thousands of years, or so many hundreds of thousands of years.”
“Then, is it possible to give a simile, venerable sir?”
“It is possible, bhikkhu,” the Blessed One said.
“Suppose, bhikkhu, there were a mountain of solid rock, a |yojana::a unit of distance used in ancient India, ranging from 3.5 to 15 km [yojana]| long, a yojana wide, and a yojana high, without cracks, without holes, and of one solid mass. At the end of every hundred years, a man would wipe that mountain once with a piece of fine cloth made in |Kāsi::an ancient kingdom in northern India, renowned for producing fine, high-quality textiles, especially soft and delicate cloth [kāsi]|. By this effort, that large rocky mountain might be worn away and eliminated but the aeon would still not have come to an end. So long is an aeon, bhikkhu. And of aeons of such length, we have wandered through so many aeons, so many hundreds of aeons, so many thousands of aeons, so many hundreds of thousands of aeons.
For what reason? Bhikkhus, this |cyclic existence::wandering from one state of existence to another, the cycle of birth and death, moving on continuously [saṁsāra]| is without a discoverable beginning. A first point is not evident of beings who, obstructed by |ignorance::fundamental unawareness or misunderstanding of the true nature of reality, not experientially understanding the four noble truths [avijjā]| and fettered by |craving::wanting, yearning, longing, attachment, lit. thirst [taṇha]|, run on and wander in this cycle of existence. For such a long time, bhikkhus, you have experienced |suffering::discomfort, unpleasantness, discontentment, dissatisfaction, stress, pain, disease, i.e. mild or intense suffering [dukkha]|, |agony::intense suffering, anguish [tibba]|, and |calamity::disaster [byasana]|, the |cemetery::charnel ground [kaṭasī]| has been filled up with your bones. Therefore, bhikkhus, it is enough |to become disenchanted::to become disillusioned [nibbindituṃ]|, |to become detached::to become dispassionate [virajjituṁ]| and |to become free from::to be liberated from [vimuccituṃ]| |all conditions::all formations, all activities, all fabrications [sabbasaṅkhāra]|.”