A Heap of Bones

This was said by the Lord...

"Bhikkhus, the skeletons of a single person, running on and wandering in samsara for an aeon, would make a heap of bones, a quantity of bones as large as this Mount Vepulla, if there were someone to collect them and if the collection were not destroyed."

The bones of a single person

Accumulated in a single aeon 

Would make a heap like a mountain — 

So said the Great Sage. 

 

He declared it to be 

As great as Mount Vepulla 

To the north of Vulture's Peak

In the hill-fort of Magadha.

 

But when one sees with perfect wisdom 

The four noble truths as they are — 

Suffering, the origin of suffering, 

The overcoming of suffering, 

 And the noble eightfold path

Leading to relief from suffering — 

 

Having merely run on 

Seven times at the most, 

By destroying all fetters 

One makes an end of suffering. 

 

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Tipitaka {Iti 1.24; Iti 17}  

translated from the Pali by

John D. Ireland