<p>Try contemplating this while meditating :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Bhikkhus, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant
feeling, painful feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. These
are the three feelings.”</p>
<p>Whether it be pleasant or painful Along with the
neither-painful-nor-pleasant, Both the internal and the external,
Whatever kind of feeling there is: Having known, “This is suffering,
Perishable, disintegrating,” Having touched and touched them, seeing
their fall, Thus one loses one’s passion for them</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-25T23:30:38.510Z
2021-07-25T23:30:38.510Z
Arkaprava Paul
<p>This seems to be from <a href="https://suttacentral.net/sn15.5/en/sujato" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN 15.5</a>. You can find similar similes in other suttas of <a href="https://suttacentral.net/sn15" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN 15</a>. SN is samyutta nikaya, in this case, not sutta nipata.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side,
and asked him, “Sir, how long is an eon?”</p>
<p>“Mendicant, an eon is long. It’s not easy to calculate how many years,
how many hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years it
lasts.”</p>
<p>“But sir, is it possible to give a simile?”</p>
<p>“It’s possible,” said the Buddha.</p>
<p>“Suppose there was a huge stone mountain, a league long, a league
wide, and a league high, with no cracks or holes, one solid mass. And
as each century passed someone would stroke it with a fine cloth from
Kāsī. By this means the huge stone mountain would be worn away before
the eon comes to an end. That’s how long an eon is. And we’ve
transmigrated through many such eons, many hundreds, many thousands,
many hundreds of thousands.</p>
<p>Why is that? Transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite
enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed
regarding all conditions.”<br />
<a href="https://suttacentral.net/sn15.5/en/sujato" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SN 15.5</a></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-25T17:07:27.427Z
Thank you very much!
Arbuiwer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-25T15:44:28.317Z
2021-07-25T15:44:28.317Z
ruben2020
<p>Can someone provide me a reference to the passage in the canon where the Buddha describes the length of a kalpa?</p>
<p>In the English Wikipedia article there is this quote which is allegedly by the Buddha:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Were a man to take a piece of cloth of this most delicate texture [of
fine cotton], and therewith to touch in the slightest possible manner,
once in a hundred years, a solid rock, free from earth, a yojana [~14
miles] high, and as much broad, the time would come when it would be
worn down, by this imperceptible trituration, to the size of a mung or
undu seed. This period would be immense in its duration; but it has
been declared by Buddha that it would not be equal to a Maha Kalpa.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I would like to find that exact passage but alas no luck. I don't know where this could be. In the wiki article the sutta nipata is mentioned but I couldn't find anything in there.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>

<reference-request><general-buddhism>
Where is the sutta passage for the following citation of the description of a kalpa?
# Where is the sutta passage for the following citation of the description of a kalpa?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-25)

Can someone provide me a reference to the passage in the canon where the Buddha describes the length of a kalpa?

In the English Wikipedia article there is this quote which is allegedly by the Buddha:

> "Were a man to take a piece of cloth of this most delicate texture [of
> fine cotton], and therewith to touch in the slightest possible manner,
> once in a hundred years, a solid rock, free from earth, a yojana [~14
> miles] high, and as much broad, the time would come when it would be
> worn down, by this imperceptible trituration, to the size of a mung or
> undu seed. This period would be immense in its duration; but it has
> been declared by Buddha that it would not be equal to a Maha Kalpa."

I would like to find that exact passage but alas no luck. I don't know where this could be. In the wiki article the sutta nipata is mentioned but I couldn't find anything in there.

Thank you.

**Tags:** reference-request, general-buddhism


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-25. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

This seems to be from [SN 15.5](https://suttacentral.net/sn15.5/en/sujato). You can find similar similes in other suttas of [SN 15](https://suttacentral.net/sn15). SN is samyutta nikaya, in this case, not sutta nipata.

> Then a mendicant went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side,
> and asked him, “Sir, how long is an eon?”
>
> “Mendicant, an eon is long. It’s not easy to calculate how many years,
> how many hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of years it
> lasts.”
>
> “But sir, is it possible to give a simile?”
>
> “It’s possible,” said the Buddha.
>
> “Suppose there was a huge stone mountain, a league long, a league
> wide, and a league high, with no cracks or holes, one solid mass. And
> as each century passed someone would stroke it with a fine cloth from
> Kāsī. By this means the huge stone mountain would be worn away before
> the eon comes to an end. That’s how long an eon is. And we’ve
> transmigrated through many such eons, many hundreds, many thousands,
> many hundreds of thousands.
>
> Why is that? Transmigration has no known beginning. … This is quite
> enough for you to become disillusioned, dispassionate, and freed
> regarding all conditions.”  
> [SN 15.5](https://suttacentral.net/sn15.5/en/sujato)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you very much!  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-07-25. Score: 0

Try contemplating this while meditating :

> “Bhikkhus, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant
> feeling, painful feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. These
> are the three feelings.”
>
> Whether it be pleasant or painful Along with the
> neither-painful-nor-pleasant, Both the internal and the external,
> Whatever kind of feeling there is: Having known, “This is suffering,
> Perishable, disintegrating,” Having touched and touched them, seeing
> their fall, Thus one loses one’s passion for them


---

