[731] "Venerable sir, suppose there were a king's frontier city, with strong ramparts, with strong walls and arched gateways, and with a single gate; and there a gatekeeper—wise, competent, and intelligent—who keeps out those unknown and admits those who are known. Walking along the path that encircles that city all around, he would not see a joint in the wall or an opening in the wall even so much as would allow a cat to slip through. It would occur to him: 'Whatever gross living beings enter or leave this city, all of them enter or leave by this very gate.' Even so, venerable sir, I have understood this by inference from the Dhamma: whatever Arahants, Perfectly Enlightened Ones (sammāsambuddhā) there were in the past, venerable sir, all those Blessed Ones, having abandoned the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa)—the corruptions of the mind that weaken wisdom—with their minds well established in the four establishments of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna), having developed the seven factors of awakening (bojjhaṅga) as they really are, awakened to the unsurpassed perfect awakening. Whatever Arahants, Perfectly Enlightened Ones there will be in the future, venerable sir, all those Blessed Ones, having abandoned the five hindrances—the corruptions of the mind that weaken wisdom—with their minds well established in the four establishments of mindfulness, having developed the seven factors of awakening as they really are, will awaken to the unsurpassed perfect awakening. And the Blessed One too, venerable sir, at present, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, having abandoned the five hindrances—the corruptions of the mind that weaken wisdom—with his mind well established in the four establishments of mindfulness, having developed the seven factors of awakening as they really are, has awakened to the unsurpassed perfect awakening."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.