The seer Rohitassa told the Buddha that in a former life, he had the power of speed. He could move as swift as an arrow shot by a strong bow, with giant strides that stretched from ocean to ocean. With this ability, he developed a desire to reach the end of the world: a place beyond birth, aging, and death. And so he traveled, for a hundred years.
He died before he arrived.
Rohitassa asked the Buddha: “Is it possible to reach the end of the world: a place beyond birth, aging, and death?”
Buddha replied: “No, it is not possible to reach the end of the world by traveling. Yet without reaching the end of the world, there is no release from suffering. The beginning of the world…the end of the world…the whole of the world…is in here, this body, with its perceptions and mind. In here the entire cosmos is experienced. In here the arising and ending of suffering can be understood.
Even now, the call is familiar.
Space keeps calling.