{"id":"sn15.6","title":"A Mustard Seed","languageCodes":["en","pi"],"languageNotes":{"en":"Bhikkhu Sujato · CC0","pi":"Mahāsaṅgīti edition · SuttaCentral"},"chapters":[{"id":"sn15.6","title":"A Mustard Seed","units":[{"id":"sn15.6:0","sourceIds":["sn15.6:0.1","sn15.6:0.2","sn15.6:0.3"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Saṁyutta Nikāya 15.6\n1. Paṭhamavagga\nSāsapasutta","en":"Linked Discourses 15.6\nChapter One\nA Mustard Seed"}},{"id":"sn15.6:1","sourceIds":["sn15.6:1.1","sn15.6:1.2","sn15.6:1.3","sn15.6:1.4","sn15.6:1.5"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"Sāvatthiyaṁ viharati.\nAtha kho aññataro bhikkhu yena bhagavā …pe… ekamantaṁ nisinno kho so bhikkhu bhagavantaṁ etadavoca:\n“kīvadīgho nu kho, bhante, kappo”ti?\n“Dīgho kho, bhikkhu, kappo.\nSo na sukaro saṅkhātuṁ ettakāni vassāni iti vā …pe… ettakāni vassasatasahassāni iti vā”ti.","en":"At Sāvatthī.\nThen a mendicant went up to the Buddha … and asked him,\n“Sir, how long is an eon?”\n“Mendicant, an eon is long.\nIt’s not easy to calculate how many years, how many hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years it lasts.”"}},{"id":"sn15.6:2","sourceIds":["sn15.6:2.1","sn15.6:2.2","sn15.6:2.3","sn15.6:2.4","sn15.6:2.5","sn15.6:2.6","sn15.6:2.7","sn15.6:2.8","sn15.6:2.9","sn15.6:2.10","sn15.6:2.11"],"kind":"text","text":{"pi":"“Sakkā pana, bhante, upamaṁ kātun”ti?\n“Sakkā, bhikkhū”ti bhagavā avoca.\n“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhu, āyasaṁ nagaraṁ yojanaṁ āyāmena yojanaṁ vitthārena yojanaṁ ubbedhena, puṇṇaṁ sāsapānaṁ guḷikābaddhaṁ.\nTato puriso vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena ekamekaṁ sāsapaṁ uddhareyya.\nKhippataraṁ kho so, bhikkhu, mahāsāsaparāsi iminā upakkamena parikkhayaṁ pariyādānaṁ gaccheyya, na tveva kappo.\nEvaṁ dīgho kho, bhikkhu, kappo.\nEvaṁ dīghānaṁ kho, bhikkhu, kappānaṁ neko kappo saṁsito, nekaṁ kappasataṁ saṁsitaṁ, nekaṁ kappasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ, nekaṁ kappasatasahassaṁ saṁsitaṁ.\nTaṁ kissa hetu?\nAnamataggoyaṁ, bhikkhu, saṁsāro …pe…\nalaṁ vimuccitun”ti.\nChaṭṭhaṁ.","en":"“But sir, is it possible to give a simile?”\n“It’s possible,” said the Buddha.\n“Suppose there was an iron citadel, a league long, a league wide, and a league high, full of mustard seeds pressed into balls.\nAnd as each century passed someone would remove a single mustard seed.\nBy this means the big heap of mustard seeds would be used up before the eon comes to an end.\nThat’s how long an eon is.\nAnd we’ve transmigrated through many such eons, many hundreds, many thousands, many hundreds of thousands.\nWhy is that?\nThis transmigration has no known beginning. …\nThis is quite enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed regarding all conditions.”"}}]}],"sourceRevision":"afdafa92450cfe7573b280da50382888323666d2","sourceUrl":"https://suttacentral.net/sn15.6/en/sujato","licence":"CC0 1.0","licenceUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/","editionNote":"Full supplied source file; inherited abbreviations are preserved. Not a reconstructed expansion of every repetition. No Malay or Mandarin translation is implied."}