1 At one time the Auspicious One was dwelling at Rajagaha on Mount Vulture Peak. At that place the Auspicious One addressed the bhikkhus: “Bhikkhus.” “Bhante,” those bhikkhus replied to the Auspicious One. The Auspicious One said this:

2 This samsara, O bhikkhus, is without a discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by thirsting. One person, O bhikkhus, roaming and wandering on for an aeon might in this way [leave behind] a great mash of bones, a pile of bones, a heap of bones as [tall as] this Vepullo mountain, if it could be gathered together, and [having been] gathered together, would not perish. What is the reason for that? [Because] this samsara is without a discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by thirsting. This much, O bhikkhus, is just enough to be enstranged in all sankharas, enough to fade away in them, enough to be liberated in them.

3 This is what the Auspicious One said. Having said this, the Well-farer, the Teacher, further said this:

With the passing of a single aeon,
the bones an individual accumulates;
might be a heap equal to a mountain,
thus is said from the great sage.

He declared this as [tall],
as the great Vepulla mountain;
standing north of the Vulture's Peak,
of Magadha, the Mountain Fort.

But from the time one sees,
the noble truths with right wisdom:
suffering, suffering's origin,
the going beyond of suffering;
and the noble eight-fold path,
suffering's appeasement.

That individual having wandered on,
not surpassing seven times;
comes to make an end to suffering,
the extinction of all fetters.”

1 ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā rājagahe viharati gijjhakūṭe pabbate. tatra kho bhagavā bhikkhū āmantesi bhikkhavo'ti. bhadante'ti te bhikkhū bhagavato paccassosuṃ, bhagavā etadavoca:

2 anamataggoyaṃ bhikkhave, saṃsāro pubbā koṭi na paññāyati avijjānīvaraṇānaṃ sattānaṃ taṇhāsaṃyojanānaṃ sandhāvataṃ saṃsarataṃ. ekapuggalassa bhikkhave, kappaṃ sandhāvato saṃsarato siyā evaṃ mahā aṭṭhikaṅkhalo aṭṭhipuñjo aṭṭhirāsi yathāyaṃ vepullo pabbato, sace saṃhārako assa, sambhatañca na vinasseyya. taṃ kissa hetu? anamataggoyaṃ bhikkhave, saṃsāro. pubbā koṭi na paññāyati avijjānīvaraṇānaṃ sattānaṃ taṇhāsaṃyojanānaṃ sandhāvataṃ saṃsarataṃ. yāvañcidaṃ bhikkhave, alameva sabbasaṅkhāresu nibbindituṃ, alaṃ virajjituṃ, alaṃ vimuccitunti.

3 idamavoca bhagavā. idaṃ vatvā sugato athāparaṃ etadavoca satthā:

ekassekena kappena,
puggalassaṭṭhisañcayo;
siyā pabbatasamo rāsi,
iti vuttaṃ mahesinā

so kho panāyaṃ akkhāto,
vepullo pabbato mahā;
uttaro gijjhakūṭassa,
magadhānaṃ giribbaje.

yato ca ariyasaccāni,
sammappaññāya passati:
dukkhaṃ dukkhasamuppādaṃ,
dukkhassa ca atikkamaṃ;
ariyañcaṭṭhaṅgikaṃ maggaṃ,
dukkhūpasamagāminaṃ.

na sattakkhattu paramaṃ,
sandhāvitvāna puggalo;
dukkhassantakaro hoti,
sabbasaññojanakkhayā'ti. pts page 186