[371] "Udāyī, one who could recollect his manifold past lives (pubbenivāsa) — that is: one birth, two births … — one who could thus recollect his manifold past lives with their features and details, he might ask me a question concerning the past (pubbanta), or I might ask him a question concerning the past; he might satisfy my mind (citta) with his answer to a question concerning the past, or I might satisfy his mind with my answer to a question concerning the past.
"Udāyī, one who, with the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human, could see beings passing away and reappearing — inferior and superior, fair-complexioned and ill-complexioned, gone to a good destination and gone to a bad destination … — one who could thus understand beings as faring according to their kamma, he might ask me a question concerning the future (aparanta), or I might ask him a question concerning the future; he might satisfy my mind with his answer to a question concerning the future, or I might satisfy his mind with my answer to a question concerning the future.
"But, Udāyī, let the past stand, let the future stand. I shall teach you the Dhamma: 'When this exists, this comes to be; with the arising of this, this arises. When this does not exist, this does not come to be; with the cessation of this, this ceases.'"
"Venerable sir, I cannot even recollect, with its features and details, what I have experienced in this present individual existence; how then shall I recollect my manifold past lives — that is: one birth, two births, three births … how shall I thus recollect my manifold past lives with their features and details — as the Blessed One does? Venerable sir, at this very moment I cannot even see a mud-goblin (paṃsupisācaka); how then shall I, with the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human, see beings passing away and reappearing — inferior and superior, fair-complexioned and ill-complexioned, gone to a good destination and gone to a bad destination … how shall I thus understand beings as faring according to their kamma — as the Blessed One does? But, venerable sir, when the Blessed One said to me: 'But, Udāyī, let the past stand, let the future stand. I shall teach you the Dhamma: "When this exists, this comes to be; with the arising of this, this arises. When this does not exist, this does not come to be; with the cessation of this, this ceases"' — that is all the more obscure to me. Perhaps, venerable sir, I might satisfy the Blessed One's mind by answering a question on my own teachers' doctrine (sake ācariyake)."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.