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which has internal assurance and unification of mind, is without applied thought and sustained thought, born of concentration, with rapture and pleasure. With the fading away of rapture, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending, and experiences pleasure with the body, of which the noble ones declare: ‘He dwells in equanimity, mindful, and at ease.’ He enters and dwells in the third jhāna. With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and sorrow, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which is neither painful nor pleasant, and is purified by equanimity and mindfulness. “With his mind thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilements, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs it to the knowledge of recollecting past lives. He recollects his 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 eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction and expansion. ‘There I was named thus, of such a clan, of such an appearance, fed on such food, experienced such pleasure and pain, had such a lifespan. Passing away from there, I reappeared yonder. There too I was named thus, of such a clan, of such an appearance, fed on such food, experienced such pleasure and pain, had such a lifespan. Passing away from there, I reappeared here.’ Thus he recollects his manifold past lives, with their aspects and details. This is his first true knowledge attained; ignorance is dispelled, knowledge has arisen; darkness destroyed, light arose, just as it is for one who dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute. When his mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilements, pliant, workable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directed and inclined his mind to the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the divine eye, purified and surpassing human sight, he saw beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understood how beings fare according to their karma: ‘These good sirs, beings, were endowed with misconduct of body… …with misconduct of speech, …with misconduct of mind, revilers of noble ones, holding wrong views, undertaking actions based on wrong views. With the breakup of the body, after death, they have reappeared in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. Or these good sirs, beings, were endowed with good conduct of body, …with good conduct of speech, …with good conduct of mind, not revilers of noble ones, holding right views, undertaking actions based on right views. With the breakup of the body, after death, they have reappeared in a good destination, a heavenly world.’ Thus, with the divine eye, purified and surpassing human sight, he saw beings passing away and reappearing, inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate, and he understood how beings fare according to their karma. This was his second knowledge attained; ignorance was destroyed, knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed, light arose, just as it is for one who dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute. When his mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilements, pliant, workable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directed and inclined his mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints. He understood ‘This is suffering’ as it actually is. He understood ‘This is the origin of suffering’ as it actually is. He understood ‘This is the cessation of suffering’ as it actually is. He understood ‘This is the path leading to the cessation of suffering’ as it actually is. He understood ‘These are the taints’ as it actually is. He understood ‘This is the origin of the taints’ as it actually is. He understood ‘This is the He understands 'the cessation of the taints' as it really is, he understands 'this is the path leading to the cessation of the taints' as it really is. For him, thus knowing, thus seeing, his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual desire, his mind is liberated from the taint of becoming, his mind is liberated from the taint of ignorance; in liberation, the knowledge 'it is liberated' arises. He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.' This is his third knowledge attained; ignorance is dispelled, knowledge has arisen; darkness is dispelled, light has arisen, as is fitting for one who dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute. Whose conduct is not high or low, who is discerning and meditative; Whose mind is under control, one-pointed and well-concentrated. Him, indeed, the dispeller of darkness, the wise one, the possessor of the three knowledges, the one who has abandoned death; The benefactor of gods and humans, they call him one who has abandoned everything. Endowed with the three knowledges, dwelling unconfused; The Buddha, with his final body, they pay homage to that Gotama. He who knows his former abodes, and sees heaven and the states of woe; And has attained the destruction of birth, the sage perfected in higher knowledges. By these three knowledges, one is a brahmin of three knowledges; Him I call one of three knowledges, not another who merely prattles. "Thus, brahmin, one is a possessor of the three knowledges in the Noble Discipline." "It is otherwise, good Gotama, that brahmins possess the three knowledges, and it is otherwise that one possesses the three knowledges in the Noble Discipline. And indeed, good Gotama, the brahmin's possessor of the three knowledges is not worth a sixteenth part of the possessor of the three knowledges in the Noble Discipline." "Excellent, good Gotama... May Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge from this day forth as long as life lasts." The Eighth. 9. The Discourse with Jāṇussoṇi Then the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi went to the Blessed One; having approached, he exchanged greetings with the Blessed One... Having sat down to one side, the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi said to the Blessed One: "Good Gotama, if one's sacrifice or..." whether it be faith, or a ceremonial meal, or a gift of merit, it should be given to Brahmins who are skilled in the three Vedas.” “But how, Brahmin, do Brahmins define one skilled in the three Vedas?” “Here, good Gotama, a Brahmin is well-born on both sides, from mother and father, with pure lineage back through seven generations of ancestors, unblemished, unreproached in terms of birth. He is a reciter, a mantra-holder, a master of the three Vedas, with their vocabularies and rituals, their phonetics and etymologies, and as the fifth, their histories. He is skilled in grammar, and in the signs of a great man according to the Lokāyata. That is how, good Gotama, Brahmins define one skilled in the three Vedas.” “Brahmins, Brahmin, define a Brahmin skilled in the three Vedas in one way, but in the discipline of the Noble Ones, one is skilled in the three Vedas in another way.” “But how, good Gotama, is one skilled in the three Vedas in the discipline of the Noble Ones? May Master Gotama teach me the Dhamma so that I may know how one is skilled in the three Vedas in the discipline of the Noble Ones.” “Then, Brahmin, listen, pay careful attention; I will speak.” “Yes, good sir,” Jāṇussoṇi the Brahmin replied to the Blessed One. The Blessed One said this: “Here, Brahmin, a monk, quite secluded from sensual pleasures… …attains and dwells in the fourth jhāna. “With his mind thus concentrated, purified, cleansed, without blemish, rid of defilements, pliant, workable, steady, immovable, he directs his mind to the knowledge of recollecting past lives. He recollects his manifold past lives, that is, one birth, two births… …thus he recollects his manifold past lives with their aspects and details. This is his first knowledge attained; ignorance is dispelled, knowledge has arisen; darkness is dispelled, light has arisen, as is fitting for one who dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute. “With his mind thus concentrated, purified, cleansed, without blemish, rid of defilements, pliant, workable, steady, immovable, he directs his mind to the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings…” He directs his mind to the knowledge of the passing away and reappearance of beings. With the divine eye, purified and surpassing human, … he discerns beings as they pass away and reappear according to their kamma. This is his second knowledge attained; ignorance is dispelled, knowledge has arisen; darkness is dispelled, light has arisen as is fitting for one who dwells heedful, ardent, and resolute. When his mind is thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilements, pliant, workable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs his mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints. He understands ‘This is suffering’ as it really is… he understands ‘This is the path leading to the cessation of suffering’ as it really is; he understands ‘These are the taints’ as it really is… he understands ‘This is the path leading to the cessation of the taints’ as it really is. For him, thus knowing, thus seeing, his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual desire, his mind is liberated from the taint of becoming, his mind is liberated from the taint of ignorance; in liberation, the knowledge ‘It is liberated’ arises. He understands: ‘Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is no more for this state of being.’ This is his third knowledge attained; ignorance is dispelled, knowledge has arisen; darkness is dispelled, light has arisen as is fitting for one who dwells heedful,