Itivuttaka 99
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “It’s with reference to Dhamma, monks, that I describe [a person as] a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting. And how is it with reference to 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 eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons 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 sensitivity to 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 sensitivity to 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 remains heedful, ardent, & resolute.
“Then again, the monk sees–by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human–beings passing away & re-appearing, and he discerns 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 a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, 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 a good destination, a 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 remains heedful, ardent, & resolute.
“Then again, the monk–with the ending of effluents–remains in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, directly knowing & realizing it for himself right in the here-&-now.
“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 remains heedful, ardent, & resolute.
“It’s in this way that, with reference to 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 direct-knowing.
By means of these three knowledges
he becomes a three-knowledge brahman.1
He’s what I call a three-knowledge man–
not another,
citing, reciting.
Note
1. In the brahmanical religion, a “three-knowledge man” was one who had memorized the three Vedas. This verse takes the brahmanical term and gives it a new, Buddhist meaning.
