[543] Bhikkhus, before my awakening, while I was still an unawakened bodhisatta (bodhisatta), this occurred to me: "What now is the gratification (assāda) in the world? What is the danger (ādīnava)? What is the escape (nissaraṇa)?" Then, bhikkhus, this occurred to me: "In dependence on whatever in the world pleasure and joy arise — this is the gratification in the world. That the world is impermanent, suffering (dukkha), and subject to change — this is the danger in the world. The removal of desire and lust (chandarāga), the abandoning of desire and lust, regarding the world — this is the escape in the world."
Bhikkhus, so long as I did not directly know, as it really is, the gratification of the world as gratification, its danger as danger, and its escape as escape, for just so long, bhikkhus, I did not claim to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment (sammāsambodhi) in this world with its devas, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and humans. But when, bhikkhus, I directly knew, as it really is, the gratification of the world as gratification, its danger as danger, and its escape as escape, then, bhikkhus, I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment in this world with its devas, with its Māras, with its Brahmās, in this generation with its ascetics and brahmins, with its devas and humans. And the knowledge (ñāṇa) and vision arose in me: "Unshakable is my liberation; this is my last birth; now there is no renewed existence."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.