iti.24 Itivuttaka

A Heap of Bones

This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
“Mendicants, one person 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.”
The Buddha spoke this matter.
On this it is said:
“If the bones of a single person
for a single eon were gathered up,
they’d make a pile the size of a mountain:
so said the great hermit.
And this is declared to be
as huge as Mount Vepulla,
higher than the Vulture’s Peak
near the Mountainfold of the Magadhans.
But then, with right understanding,
a person sees the noble truths—
suffering, suffering’s origin,
suffering’s transcendence,
and the noble eightfold path
that leads to the stilling of suffering.
After roaming on seven times at most,
that person
makes an end of suffering,
with the ending of all fetters.”
This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.