俱舍論疏 27.126

27.126

論「從無色沒至自相續起」，明從無色沒生欲界者，依他身初修此通。或可依自身修至中有初心，依他身前命終心究竟。《正理論》云「若宿住通不依無色，應不能憶無色界事。契經何故說佛世尊無上法中，言佛能憶過去有色、無色等事。此是決定比智所知，非宿住通，故無有失。謂諸外道若見有情欲、色命終，不知生處，執有情類死已斷滅。見生欲、色，不知所從，便執有情本無而有。聲聞、獨覺見彼命終，二萬劫中不見所在，便謂彼沒生於空處，而彼或生上，不盡壽命終。如是乃至八萬劫中不見所在，便謂彼沒生於非想非非想處，而或生下地經二、三生等。見生欲、色時，謂所從亦爾。世尊觀彼死時生時，如實比知所生從處，有盡壽量、有中夭者。雖亦比知，非不決定，故與餘聖比知有別（已上論文）。」

The Śāstra states: "Passing away from the formless realm up to arises in one's own continuum," clarifying that one who passes away from the formless realm and is born into the desire realm, relying on another's body, first cultivates this supernormal knowledge. Or it may be cultivated relying on one's own body up to the initial mind of the intermediate state, and culminated relying on the mind preceding death in another's body. The Nyāyānusāra says: "If the supernormal knowledge of previous lives does not rely on the formless realm, it should be incapable of recollecting the events of the formless realm. Why does the sūtra, in speaking of the supreme Dharma of the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, state that the Buddha can recollect past events possessing form, lacking form, and so forth? This is known through definitive inferential cognition, not through the supernormal knowledge of previous lives; therefore there is no error. That is to say, when non-Buddhists see sentient beings die in the desire or form realm and do not know where they are born, they cling to the view that sentient beings are annihilated after death. When they see them born in the desire or form realm and do not know whence they came, they cling to the view that sentient beings exist having previously not existed. When śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas see them die, and do not see their whereabouts for twenty thousand kalpas, they assume that having passed away, they were born in the sphere of infinite space, yet they may have been born above and died before exhausting their lifespan. Thus, up to when they do not see their whereabouts for eighty thousand kalpas, they assume that having passed away, they were born in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, yet they may have been born in a lower level and passed through two or three lives, etc. When seeing them born in the desire or form realms, they assume their origin is also thus. The World-Honoured One, observing their time of death and time of birth, truly knows by inference the place where they are born and whence they came, whether they exhausted their lifespan or died prematurely. Although it is also inferential cognition, it is not non-definitive; hence it differs from the inferential cognition of the other noble ones." (End of śāstra citation.)