Aṅguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVI: Indriya Vagga

The Book of the Fours

XVI: Controlling Powers

Sutta 156

The Æon

 

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[145]

'Monks, there are these four incalculable periods of the æon.¹

What four?

When the æon rolls up,
it is no easy thing to reckon:

So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.

When the æon being rolled up stands still,
it is no easy thing to reckon:

So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.

When the æon rolls out it is no easy thing to reckon:

So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.

When the æon being rolled out stands still, it is no easy thing to reckon:

So many years,
so many hundred years,
so many thousand years,
so many hundred thousands of years.

These, monks, are the four incalculable periods of the æon.'

 

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¹ Cf. D. i, 14, iii, 109; Mil. Pañh. 232; Pts. of Contr. 268. Our Comy. on the passage = VM., p. 414, hut the ref. there given to this passage is wrong. 'Rolls up and out' approaches our in- and e-volution.