IF HE SHOULD DESIRE– ÂKANKHEYYA-SUTTA
18. ‘If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to see with pure and heavenly vision, surpassing that of men, beings as they pass from one state of existence and take form in others; beings base or noble, good-looking or ill-favoured, happy or miserable, according to the karma they inherit–(if he should desire to be able to say), “These beings, reverend sirs, by their bad conduct in action, by their bad conduct in word, by their bad conduct in thought, by their speaking evil of the Noble Ones[1], by their adhesion to false doctrine, or by their acquiring the karma of false doctrine[2], have been reborn, on the dissolution of the body after death, in some unhappy state of suffering or woe[3].” “These beings, reverend sirs, by their good conduct in action, by their good conduct in word, by their good conduct in thought, by their not speaking evil of the Noble Ones, by their adhesion to right doctrine, by their acquiring the karma of right doctrine, have been reborn, on the dissolution of the body after death, into some happy state in heaven;”–should he desire thus to see with pure and heavenly vision, surpassing that of men, beings as they thus pass from one state of existence and take form in others; beings base or noble, good-looking or ill-favoured, happy or miserable, according to the karma they inherit; let him then fulfil all righteousness, let him be devoted to that quietude of heart which springs from within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of contemplation, let him look through things, let him be much alone!’
Buddhist Suttas – Âkankheyya Sutta: If He Should Desire
Translated from Pâli by T. W. Rhys Davids [1881]
Âkankheyya Sutta: If He Should Desire