The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [309]
(15. The Divine Ear Element)
32. “Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way whereby with the divine ear element, which is purified and surpasses the human, they hear both kinds of sounds, the divine and the human, those that are far as well as near. Just as a vigorous trumpeter might make himself heard without difficulty in the four quarters; so too, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way whereby with the divine ear element…far as well as near. And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge.
(16. Understanding the Minds of Others)
33. “Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to understand the minds of other beings, of other persons, having encompassed them with their own minds. They understand a mind affected by lust as affected by lust and a mind unaffected by lust as unaffected by lust; they understand a mind affected by hate as affected by hate and a mind unaffected by hate as unaffected by hate; they understand a mind affected by delusion as affected by delusion and a mind unaffected by delusion as unaffected by delusion; they understand a contracted mind as contracted and a distracted mind as distracted; they understand an exalted mind as exalted and an unexalted mind as unexalted; they understand a surpassed mind as surpassed and an unsurpassed mind as unsurpassed; they understand a concentrated mind as concentrated and an unconcentrated mind as unconcentrated; they understand a liberated mind as liberated and an unliberated mind as unliberated. Just as a man or a woman—young, youthful, and fond of ornaments—on viewing the image of his or her own face in a clean bright mirror or in a bowl of clear water, would know if there were a spot thus: ‘There is a spot,’ [20] or would know if there were no spot thus: ‘There is no spot’; so too, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to understand…an unliberated mind as unliberated. And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the consummation and perfection of direct knowledge.
(17. The Recollection of Past Lives)
34. “Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to recollect their manifold past lives, that is, 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 aeons of world-contraction, many aeons of world-expansion, many aeons of world-contraction and expansion: ‘There I was so named, of such a clan, with such an appearance, such was my nutriment, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such my life-term; and passing away from there, I reappeared elsewhere; and there too I was so named…and passing away from there, I reappeared here.’ Thus with their aspects and particulars they recollect their manifold past lives. Just as a man might go from his own village to another village and then back again to his own village. He might think: ‘I went from my own village to that village, and there I stood in such a way, sat in such a way, spoke in such a way, kept silent in such a way; and from that village I went to that other village and there [21] I stood in such a way…kept silent in such a way; and from that village I came back again to my own village.’ So too, I have proclaimed to my disciples the