Iti 99
Itivuttaka: The Group of Threes
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "It's on the strength of Dhamma that I describe [a person as] a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting. And how is it on the strength of 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 aeons of cosmic contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons 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 experience of 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 experience of 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 is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"Then again, the monk sees by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human beings passing away & re-appearing, and I discerned 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 the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, in 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 the good destinations, in the 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 is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"Then again, the monk with the ending of fermentations remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having directly known and made it manifest for himself right in the present life.
"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 is heedful, ardent, & resolute.
"It's in this way that, on the strength of 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 full-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.