1.
The Discourse on Before [the Enlightenment]
823.
At Sāvatthī.
"Before the enlightenment, monks, while still unenlightened, being just a Bodhisatta, this occurred to me -
'What is the cause, what is the condition for the development of the bases for spiritual power?'
This occurred to me, monks -
'Here a monk develops the basis for spiritual power that possesses concentration due to desire and volitional activities of striving -
thus my desire will not be too slack, nor too tense, nor contracted internally, nor distracted externally.
And he dwells perceiving after and before -
as before so after, as after so before;
as below so above, as above so below;
as by day so by night, as by night so by day.
Thus with an open mind, unobstructed, he develops a mind of luminosity.'
'He develops the basis for spiritual power that possesses concentration due to energy and volitional activities of striving - thus my energy will not be too slack, nor too tense, nor contracted internally, nor distracted externally. And he dwells perceiving after and before - as before so after, as after so before; as below so above, as above so below; as by day so by night, as by night so by day. Thus with an open mind, unobstructed, he develops a mind of luminosity.
'He develops the basis for spiritual power that possesses concentration due to mind and volitional activities of striving - thus my mind will not be too slack, nor too tense, nor contracted internally, nor distracted externally. And he dwells perceiving after and before - as before so after, as after so before; as below so above, as above so below; as by day so by night, as by night so by day. Thus with an open mind, unobstructed, he develops a mind of luminosity.
'He develops the basis for spiritual power that possesses concentration due to investigation and volitional activities of striving - thus my investigation will not be too slack, nor too tense, nor contracted internally, nor distracted externally. And he dwells perceiving after and before - as before so after, as after so before; as below so above, as above so below; as by day so by night, as by night so by day. Thus with an open mind, unobstructed, he develops a mind of luminosity.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, he experiences the various kinds of supernormal power - having been one, he becomes many; having been many, he becomes one; appearing and vanishing; he goes unhindered through walls, through ramparts, through mountains, just as through space; he dives in and out of the earth just as in water; he goes on water without breaking it just as on earth; he travels cross-legged through space just as a winged bird; he fondles and strokes with his hand even the moon and sun, so mighty and powerful; He exercises mastery with his body even as far as the Brahma world.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, with the divine ear element, purified and surpassing the human, he hears both sounds - divine and human, whether far or near.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, he understands the minds of other beings, of other persons, having encompassed them with his own mind. He understands a mind with lust as 'a mind with lust'; he understands a mind without lust as 'a mind without lust'; he understands a mind with hate as 'a mind with hate'; he understands a mind without hate as 'a mind without hate'; he understands a mind with delusion as 'a mind with delusion'; he understands a mind without delusion as 'a mind without delusion'; he understands a contracted mind as 'a contracted mind'; he understands a distracted mind as 'a distracted mind'; he understands an exalted mind as 'an exalted mind'; he understands a not exalted mind as 'a not exalted mind'; he understands a surpassed mind as 'a surpassed mind'; he understands an unsurpassed mind as 'an unsurpassed mind'; he understands a concentrated mind as 'a concentrated mind'; he understands an unconcentrated mind as 'an unconcentrated mind'; he understands a liberated mind as 'a liberated mind'; he understands an unliberated mind as 'an unliberated mind'.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, he recollects manifold past lives, as follows - one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births, many cosmic cycles of universe-contraction, many cosmic cycles of universe-expansion, many cosmic cycles of universe-contraction and expansion - 'There I was, having such a name, such a clan, such beauty, such food, experiencing such pleasure and pain, with such a life span; passing away from there, I arose there. There too I was, having such a name, such a clan, such beauty, such food, experiencing such pleasure and pain, with such a life span; passing away from there, I arose here.' Thus with aspects and terms he recollects manifold past lives.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, with the divine eye, which is pure and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and arising, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands beings according to their actions - 'These beings indeed, sirs, endowed with bodily misconduct, endowed with verbal misconduct, endowed with mental misconduct, revilers of the noble ones, holding wrong views, undertaking actions based on wrong views; upon the body's collapse at death, they have arisen in a realm of misery, an unfortunate realm, a nether world, in hell. But these beings, sirs, endowed with bodily good conduct, endowed with verbal good conduct, endowed with mental good conduct, not revilers of the noble ones, holding right views, undertaking actions based on right views; upon the body's collapse at death, they have arisen in a fortunate realm, in a heavenly world.' Thus with the divine eye, which is pure and surpasses the human, he sees beings passing away and arising, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understands beings according to their actions.
"When the four bases for spiritual power have been thus developed, monk, when they have been thus cultivated, with the elimination of the mental corruptions, in this very life, having realised by direct knowledge himself, having attained, he dwells in the liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom that are without mental corruptions." The first.