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This was said by the Blessed One,
said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "It's on the strength of Dhamma that I
describe [a person as] a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as
measured by citing & reciting. And how is it on the strength of Dhamma that
I describe [a person as] a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as
measured by citing & reciting?
"There is the case where a monk
recollects his manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two... five, ten... fifty,
a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction,
many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction &
expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an
appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such
the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I
had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my
food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life.
Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus he recollects his manifold
past lives in their modes & details.
"This is the first knowledge he
has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has
been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful, ardent,
& resolute.
"Then again, the monk sees --
by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- beings
passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned how they are inferior &
superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with
their actions: 'These beings -- who were endowed with bodily misconduct, verbal
misconduct, & mental misconduct; who reviled noble ones, held wrong views
and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views -- at the break-up of
the body, after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad
destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings -- who were endowed with
bodily good conduct, verbal good conduct, & mental good conduct; who did
not revile noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the
influence of right views -- at the break-up of the body, after death, have
re-appeared in the good destinations, in the heavenly world.' Thus -- by means
of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human -- he sees beings
passing away & re-appearing, and discerns how they are inferior &
superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with
their actions.
"This is the second knowledge
he has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness
has been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful,
ardent, & resolute.
"Then again, the monk -- with
the ending of fermentations -- remains in the fermentation-free release of
awareness & release of discernment, having directly known and made it
manifest for himself right in the present life.
"This is the third knowledge he
has attained. Ignorance has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has
been destroyed; light has arisen -- as happens in one who is heedful, ardent,
& resolute.
"It's in this way that, on the
strength of Dhamma, I describe [a person as] a brahman with threefold
knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting."
He knows his
former lives.
He sees heavens & states of woe,
has attained the ending of birth,
is a sage who has mastered full-knowing.
By means of these three knowledges
he becomes a three-knowledge brahman.*
He's what I call a three-knowledge man --
not another,
citing, reciting.
[See MN 4; Dhp. 423]
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