[136] When his mind (citta) is thus concentrated (samādhi) — purified, cleansed, unblemished, rid of defilements (upakkilesa), malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability — he directs and inclines his mind to the knowledge of the recollection of past abodes (pubbenivāsānussatiñāṇa). He recollects his manifold past abodes, that is: one birth (jāti), two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births; many eons of world-contraction, many eons of world-expansion, many eons of world-contraction and expansion: 'There I was so named, of such a clan, of such appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span. Passing away from there, I arose in such-and-such a place. There too I was so named, of such a clan, of such appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span. Passing away from there, I was reborn here.' Thus he recollects his manifold past abodes with their aspects and particulars.
Great king, it is just as if 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 to his own village. He would think: 'I went from my own village to such-and-such a village; there I stood thus, sat thus, spoke thus, kept silent thus. From that village I went to such-and-such another village; there too I stood thus, sat thus, spoke thus, kept silent thus. And from that village I have returned to my own village.' Even so, great king, when his mind is thus concentrated — purified, cleansed, unblemished, rid of defilements, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability — a bhikkhu directs and inclines his mind to the knowledge of the recollection of past abodes. He recollects his manifold past abodes, that is: one birth, two births, three births, four births, five births, ten births, twenty births, thirty births, forty births, fifty births, a hundred births, a thousand births, a hundred thousand births; many eons of world-contraction, many eons of world-expansion, many eons of world-contraction and expansion: 'There I was so named, of such a clan, of such appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span. Passing away from there, I arose in such-and-such a place. There too I was so named, of such a clan, of such appearance; such was my food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life span. Passing away from there, I was reborn here.' Thus he recollects his manifold past abodes with their aspects and particulars.
This too, great king, is a fruit of the ascetic life, visible here and now, more excellent and more sublime than the previous fruits of the ascetic life visible here and now.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.