[138] When his mind (citta) is thus concentrated (samādhi) — purified, cleansed, unblemished, rid of defilements, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability — he directs and inclines the mind to the knowledge (ñāṇa) of the destruction of the taints (āsavakkhayañāṇa). He understands as it really is (yathābhūta): 'This is suffering (dukkha)'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the origin (samudaya) of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the cessation (nirodha) of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'These are the taints (āsava)'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the origin of the taints'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the cessation of the taints'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the way of practice leading to the cessation of the taints.' When he knows thus and sees thus, his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual pleasures (kāmāsava), his mind is liberated from the taint of existence (bhavāsava), and his mind is liberated from the taint of ignorance (avijjāsava). When it is liberated, there comes the knowledge: 'It is liberated.' He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life (brahmacariya) has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this state of being.'
Just as, great king, there might be a lake in a mountain glen — clear, limpid, unturbid — and a man with good eyes, standing on the bank, might see oysters and shells, gravel and pebbles, and shoals of fish, moving about and resting; and it might occur to him: 'This lake is clear, limpid, unturbid, and here are these oysters and shells, gravel and pebbles, and shoals of fish, moving about and resting' — even so, great king, when a bhikkhu's mind is thus concentrated — purified, cleansed, unblemished, rid of defilements, malleable, wieldy, steady, and attained to imperturbability — he directs and inclines the mind to the knowledge of the destruction of the taints. He understands as it really is: 'This is suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the origin of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the cessation of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering'; he understands as it really is: 'These are the taints'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the origin of the taints'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the cessation of the taints'; he understands as it really is: 'This is the way of practice leading to the cessation of the taints.' When he knows thus and sees thus, his mind is liberated from the taint of sensual pleasures, his mind is liberated from the taint of existence, and his mind is liberated from the taint of ignorance. When it is liberated, there comes the knowledge: 'It is liberated.' He understands: 'Birth is destroyed, the holy life has been lived, what was to be done has been done, there is nothing further for this state of being.'
This too, great king, is a fruit of the ascetic life (sāmaññaphala) apparent in this very life, more excellent and more sublime than the previous fruits of the ascetic life apparent in this very life. And, great king, there is no other fruit of the ascetic life apparent in this very life that is higher or more sublime than this fruit of the ascetic life apparent in this very life.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.