[250] Dwelling at Sāvatthī … There the Blessed One … : "Bhikkhus, before my awakening (sambodha), while I was still an unawakened bodhisatta, this thought occurred to me: 'Alas, this world has fallen into trouble: it is born, it ages, it dies, it passes away, and it is reborn; and yet it does not understand the escape (nissaraṇa) from this suffering (dukkha), from aging and death. When indeed will an escape from this suffering, from aging and death, be discerned?'"
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.