IF HE SHOULD DESIRE– ÂKANKHEYYA-SUTTA
17. ‘If a Bhikkhu should desire, Brethren, to be able to call to mind his various temporary states in days gone by; such as one birth, two births, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred or a thousand, or a hundred thousand births[1]; his births in many an æon of destruction, in many an æon of renovation, in many an æon of both destruction and renovation[2]; (so as to be able to say), “In that place such was my name, such my family, such my caste[3], such my subsistence, such my experience of comfort or of pain, and such the limit of my life; and when I passed from thence, I took form again in that other place where my name was so and so, such my family, such my caste, such my subsistence, such my experience of comfort or of joy, and such my term of life; and when I fell from thence, I took form in such and such a place[4];”–should he desire thus to call to mind his temporary states in days gone by in all their modes and all their details 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