經律異相 28.34

28.34

At that time there was a devaputra named Rohitassa, of exceedingly wondrous complexion. In the late hours of the night he came to where the Buddha was and addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honored One, is there anyone who is able, by walking, to pass beyond the edge of the world and reach a place where there is no birth, no old age, and no death?" The Buddha told Rohitassa, "There is no one who can reach it." The devaputra Rohitassa again addressed the Buddha: "Wondrous indeed, World-Honored One! Well have you spoken this meaning, just as the World-Honored One has declared. Why is this? I myself recall a past life when my name was Rohitassa. I was a non-Buddhist ṛṣi who attained supernormal powers and was freed from all cravings and desires. At that time I thought: 'I possess such swift supernormal foot-travel, like a stout warrior shooting a sharp arrow horizontally across the shadow of a tāla tree. In that brief instant, I can scale Sumeru, go from one Sumeru to another, and with my feet step from the eastern ocean and leap across to the western ocean. I consider that with such swift supernormal power, I will now seek the edge of the world.' Then I set forth on foot, and—except for eating, resting, relieving myself, and curtailing my sleep—I walked continuously for a hundred years, yet on the road my life ended and in the end I could not reach it." Then he vanished and was seen no more (Extracted from the Saṃyuktāgama, Fascicle Twenty-Nine).