So evaṃ samāhite citte parisuddhe pariyodāte an·aṅgaṇe vigat·ūpakkilese mudubhūte kammaniye ṭhite āneñja·p·patte pubbe·nivās·ānussati·ñāṇāya cittaṃ abhininnāmeti. So aneka·vihitaṃ pubbe·nivāsaṃ anussarati, seyyathidaṃ: ekam·pi jātiṃ dve·pi jātiyo tisso·pi jātiyo catasso·pi jātiyo pañca·pi jātiyo dasa·pi jātiyo vīsam·pi jātiyo tiṃsam·pi jātiyo cattālīsam·pi jātiyo paññāsam·pi jātiyo jāti·satam·pi jāti·sahassam·pi jāti·sata·sahassam·pi aneke·pi saṃvaṭṭa·kappe aneke·pi vivaṭṭa·kappe aneke·pi saṃvaṭṭa·vivaṭṭa·kappe: ‘amutr·āsiṃ evaṃ·nāmo evaṃ·gotto evaṃ·vaṇṇo evam·āhāro evaṃ·sukha·dukkha·p·paṭisaṃvedī evam·āyu·pariyanto, so tato cuto amutra udapādiṃ; tatrā·p·āsiṃ evaṃ·nāmo evaṃ·gotto evaṃ·vaṇṇo evam·āhāro evaṃ·sukha·dukkha·p·paṭisaṃvedī evam·āyu·pariyanto, so tato cuto idh·ūpapanno’ ti. Iti s·ākāraṃ sa·uddesaṃ aneka·vihitaṃ pubbe·nivāsaṃ anussarati.

With a citta thus composed, purified, cleansed, without impurity, rid of upakkilesas, malleable wieldy, firm, having become imperturbable, he directs citta towards pubbe-nivās-ānussati-ñāṇā. He recollects many former living places, that is to say: 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 kappas of [world] expansion many kappas of [world] contraction, many kappas of expansion and contraction: ‘there I was of such a name, of such a clan, of such appearence,{1} such [was my] āhāra,{2} experiencing such sukha and dukkha,{3} such [was] the end of [my] life,{4} passing away from this place I reappeared in that place; there, I was of such a name, of such a clan, of such appearence, such [was my] āhāra, experiencing such sukha and dukkha, such [was] the end of [my] life, passing away from there I reappeared here’. Thus, he recollects many former living places with [their] context and [their] details.