Rohitassa Sutra

When the Buddha was residing at Jethavana in Savathnuwara,  one night, a god named Rohitassa approached him and after seeking permission asked the blessed one ‘ whether it is possible for someone to reach the edge of the world by walking, where birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance , do not exist. The Buddha responded saying that no one can  reach the edge of the world by walking where, birth, death, decay, passing away and reappearance do not exist.

Rohitassa was delighted with this response from the Buddha and exclaimed, ‘oh, isn’t it wonderful that the blessed one said that no one can reach the edge of the world by walking ,where  birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance do not exist,’ he went on to admit that in his previous existence as a rishi he possessed super natural powers that enabled him to  travel so fast, however, despite his attempts throughout his entire life, he still couldn’t reach the edge of the world which is  free of  birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance.

Nevertheless, the Buddha added ‘though it is true that no one can reach the edge of the world by walking where birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance do not exist , I claim that without reaching the edge of the world one cannot find the refuge, free from of  birth, death, decay , passing away and reappearance .

He declared that the edge of the world in fact is found within the twelve sense basses, i.e. eye, ear, nose, tongue body, mind, visible objects, sound, odour and so on and hence, the Enlightened one preached,

“It is in this very fathom-long physical frame with its perceptions and mind that, I declare, lies the world, and the arising of the world, and the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.”

(“Imasmin yeva wyama matte kelavare sa sangnimbhi lokan cha pannambhi samanake loke cha, Panchapemi lokasamudayancha loka nirodan cha, Loka nirodha gamini papipadan cha panchapemi”)

Rohitassa Sutta: Samyutta Nikaya (Translation: Bikkhu Nanananda, 2007)

The Buddha went on to say ‘I consider that understanding the sense bases, the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind and visible objects, sound, odour, tactile and dhamma alone is reaching the edge of the world, the unconditional state or the asankathaya.’

In order to understand this dhamma we need to distinguish between the world and the edge of the world says Venerable Sudassana, First you need to know the garden before you look for the periphery or boundary.

The world is the state of mind where one believes in the existence of objects that is seen, both before and after seeing. It is where someone uses the eye, the ear, the nose and so on throughout his or her life to perceive things and persons. Perceiving gold, silver, car, father, mother, child and so on is the nature of the mind in the world. To the one who finds people and things in what he or she sees, hears, and smells & so on, in short everything that one associates with and is able to remember, is the world. It is said that such persons mind is heavily burdened with associations with greed, aversion or delusion.

The edge of the world is where you see the reality as it is. It is where you encounter four great elements and the forms created by those elements (upadaya forms) yet in sketchy format. For example if you capture the scene in front of you by a camera and print it to a life size photo, it will portray the shapes and colours but you will not find life in it as you see now in front of you with people and perhaps animals. The state of cognition is identical to this experience apart from that you give life to the shapes of people and things that you see, in your mind, influenced by defilements you have accumulated. We project our sensual thoughts onto the picture and make it real. In other words we see according to the way we behold.

The blessed one has preached,

‘Objects of sensuality in the world become sensual only due to man’s lustful conceptions. The things of beauty exist in this world as they are; they do not carry sensuality that man associates with. The wise, subdue their desire, in this regard.

When we behold a visual object as a man or a woman we associate him or her accordingly, same with sounds such as vehicle sound, voice of singers etc. In perceiving sound we have a habit of identifying them with visual images, for example, when we hear a sound of a vehicle we quickly connect it to an image of a car or a truck in our mind. Same with odour and taste, the other sense bases.

Venerable Sudassana explains, ‘If you meet a foreigner who talks to you in a strange language you will not have any feeling either with like or dislike though he may even be accusing you. However, if you know the language and understand what he says you will either like him or dislike him and may even express your feelings.’

At the edge of the world we only meet sketches with no details; similar to how we sensed when we were toddlers. This is the true nature of the world. As adults we project our knowledge to the sketchy images that we encounter to associate them as things or persons that exist.

The mind can only recall or memorise impressions of our own mental constructions and not what is out there. We combine our mind impressions with external elements for our satisfaction. As long as we are deluded in this manner in the sensual world we continue to have attachments and thus craving prevails. The one who realises the truth will eventually get dissatisfied.

Venerable Sudassana explains how one could get dissatisfied; ‘a person who is having a meal thinks that the taste he enjoys is in the food on his plate where in fact it is the taste of the morsel of food that has become a pulp mixed with saliva while chewing. For some reason if he has to put it out he will throw it away with disgust. The one who realises that what he enjoys when eating is nothing pleasant to look at as the piece of meat or fish on the plate, he will no longer crave for food.’

To overcome our delusion we need to understand the true nature of the sense bases which is found at the edge of the world. The sketchy images that we encounter initially is a result of our past ignorance, kamma and craving.

When we see the true nature that is present at the edge of the world (or the sense bases) we liberate from death, decay etc. and suffering due to losing valuables, separating from the beloved and so on. This state is called attaining Sopadishesha nirvana.

The teachings guide us to live while enjoying the truth free from fermentations (cankers). The edge of the sense basses is the edge of the world and the truth, whether a Buddha is present or not, is that. When the truth is not known we do not see the reality and we are said to be having a wrong view and due to the wrong view the truth in turn gets concealed. In other words owing to the Ignorance, fermentations are formed and these fermentations in turn cause ignorance.

Other religions show us how to live while we associate the things that exist in the world. On the contrary Buddha showed us how the world is created within this fathom long body and it is the excellence of his dhamma.