Buddhism · Sutta Pitaka · Linked Discourses (Saṁyutta)

SN 15.10

A Single Individual · Puggalasutta

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At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak Mountain. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!” “Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

Ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā rājagahe viharati gijjhakūṭe pabbate. Tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi: “bhikkhavo”ti. “Bhadante”ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṁ. Bhagavā etadavoca:

“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. … One individual roaming and transmigrating for an eon would amass a heap of bones the size of this Mount Vepulla, if they were gathered together and not lost. Why is that? This transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”

“Anamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhave, saṁsāro …pe… ekapuggalassa, bhikkhave, kappaṁ sandhāvato saṁsarato siyā evaṁ mahā aṭṭhikaṅkalo aṭṭhipuñjo aṭṭhirāsi yathāyaṁ vepullo pabbato, sace saṁhārako assa, sambhatañca na vinasseyya. Taṁ kissa hetu? Anamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhave, saṁsāro …pe… alaṁ vimuccitun”ti.

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

Idamavoca bhagavā. Idaṁ vatvāna sugato athāparaṁ etadavoca satthā:

“If the bones of a single individual for a single eon were gathered up, they’d make a pile the size of a mountain: so said the great seer.

“Ekassekena kappena, puggalassaṭṭhisañcayo; Siyā pabbatasamo rāsi, iti vuttaṁ mahesinā.

And this is declared to be as big as Mount Vepulla, higher than the Vulture’s Peak in the Mountainfold of the Magadhans.

So kho panāyaṁ akkhāto, vepullo pabbato mahā; Uttaro gijjhakūṭassa, magadhānaṁ giribbaje.

But then, with right understanding, one sees the noble truths— suffering, suffering’s origin, suffering’s transcendence, and the noble eightfold path that leads to the stilling of suffering.

Yato ca ariyasaccāni, sammappaññāya passati; Dukkhaṁ dukkhasamuppādaṁ, dukkhassa ca atikkamaṁ; Ariyaṁ caṭṭhaṅgikaṁ maggaṁ, dukkhūpasamagāminaṁ.

After roaming on seven times at most, that individual makes an end of suffering, with the ending of all fetters.”

Sa sattakkhattuṁparamaṁ, sandhāvitvāna puggalo; Dukkhassantakaro hoti, sabbasaṁyojanakkhayā”ti. Dasamaṁ. Paṭhamo vaggo.

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Tassuddānaṁ

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Tiṇakaṭṭhañca pathavī, assu khīrañca pabbataṁ; Sāsapā sāvakā gaṅgā, daṇḍo ca puggalena cāti.