[475] When his mind (citta) is thus concentrated (samādhi), purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilements, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability, he directs the mind toward the knowledge (ñāṇa) of the recollection of past abodes. He recollects his manifold past abodes, that is: one birth (jāti), two births … Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past abodes.
Bhikkhus, suppose a man were to go from his own village to another village, and from that village were to go to yet another village, and from that village were to return again to his own village. It would occur to him thus: 'I went from my own village to that village; there I stood thus, sat thus, spoke thus, kept silent thus. From that village I went to that other village; there too I stood thus, sat thus, spoke thus, kept silent thus. And from that village I returned again to my own village.' In just the same way, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu recollects his manifold past abodes, that is: one birth, two births … Thus with their aspects and particulars he recollects his manifold past abodes.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.