This is how I heard. At one time, the Blessed One was living in the city of Sāvatthi, in Jeta’s Park, at Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. The Blessed One addressed the monks, saying, “O monks!” “Bhante!” those monks replied. The Blessed One said:
“Monks, this cycle of rebirth is endless. The beginning of this extremely long journey cannot be discovered. These beings, hindered by lack of knowledge of the true nature of life and bound by craving, roam and wander on in this endless journey.
“Monks, if someone were to throw a stick up into the air it would fall on its bottom at one time, another time it would fall on its side, and still another time it would fall on its top. In the same way, monks, beings hindered by lack of knowledge of the true nature of life and bound by craving, roam and wonder on in this long journey of rebirths, go from this world to the next world and another time they come from the other world to this world.
“What is the reason for that? It is because, monks, this cycle of rebirth is endless. The beginning of this extremely long journey cannot be discovered. These beings, hindered by lack of knowledge of the true nature of life and bound by craving, roam and wander on in this endless journey.
“For such a long time, monks, you have experienced various types of suffering, tragedies, and disasters. You have filled the cemetery with your dead bodies. Therefore, monks, the time has come for you to understand the meaningless nature of all conditioned things. The time has come for you to become detached from them. And the time has come for you to be liberated from them.”
