Itivuttaka 99

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Adapted From the Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)

Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org

99. Tevijjasuttam (Threefold Knowledge, The Process of Enlightenment)

This was said by the Lord Buddha(Bhagavata), 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 (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, 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 (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge(understanding) has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, ardent, & resolute.

“Then again, the monk—with the ending of asavas(wants/desires)—remains in the asava(want/desire)-free freed mind & with direct understanding(panna), directly knowing & realizing it for himself right in the here-&-now. “This is the third knowledge he has attained. Ignorance (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, 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.

See also: MN 4; Dhp 423; Thag 4:8; Thig 5:11; Thig 5:12; Thig 12; Thig 13:2