Speculations about a place of eternal happiness were very popular during the Buddha’s time. Some claimed that one could reach such a world only after one’s death. Others wondered whether one would reach an eternally happy land within one’s lifetime by travelling.

While pondering on this question, Rohitassa, identified in the text as a deity, decided to consult the Buddha. He approached the Buddha and asked, “Sir, is it possible to travel to the end of the world where birth, old age, death, and rebirth does not exist?”

The Buddha replied that nobody would know, see, or reach by travelling a place where human calamities would not exist.

After a pause, the Buddha resumed again. “Still, friend, I claim that, without going to the end of the world, one would not end suffering,” he claimed. “What I mean is that, within this six-foot-tall body itself I see the world, the origin of the world, the end of the world, and the path to the end of the world.”

Samyutta Nikaya 1: 2. 26; The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: 157-158