Rebirth and the Western Buddhist - Khamkoo

14 Rebirth and the Western Buddhist
Then,
of incurring karma with right view, when their
bodies are destroyed, they are reborn in a good
destiny, in the heavenly worlds." 3
When his mind was thus collected, quite pure,
quite clean, clear, without stain, free of minor
defilements, supple, serviceable, stable and
having attained immovability, in the middle
watch of the night the Bodhisattva directed
and turned his mind towards the realization of
the wisdom-knowledge recollecting previous
abodes (purva-niviisiinusmljti-jiiiina), and recollected
the various previous abodes of Himself
and other beings. It was like this: he recollected
one birth, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty,
... 10 18 births, ... many 10 18 births; world-ages
of destruction, world-ages of arising, worldages
of destruction and arising; and many
world-ages of destruction and arising. "There
I had such-and-such a name, such was my
family, such my caste, such my colour. Such
was my food, such was my lifespan, so long did
I exist. The pleasures and sufferings I experienced
were like this. When I passed away from
that existence I was reborn there. Having passed
away from there, I was reborn here." Thus
with the aspects and with the countries He
recollected the various previous abodes of
Himself and all sentient beings. 4
Other accounts of this crucial meditation, in the Vinayavastu5
and the Pal.i Vinaya-pitaka, 6 differ as to the order
and other parts of the meditation, but all include these
two sections, in virtually identical words.
These two clairvoyant powers are not confined to the