The sutta described the three knowledges that the buddha gained
on his enlightenment, and that the 4nts are
discerned “as it has come to be” in other words in
experience and not via logical inference, reasoning or
postulation:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.0…
The Three Knowledges
“With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright,
unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and
attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to
knowledge of the recollection of past lives.[3] He recollects his
manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two births, three births,
four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one
thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic contraction,
many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic contraction
and expansion, [recollecting,] ‘There I had such a name, belonged
to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my
experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my life. Passing
away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a
name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my
food, such my experience of pleasure and pain, such the end of my
life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus he
recollects his manifold past lives in their modes and details.
“This, too, is called a footprint of the Tathagata, a scratch
mark of the Tathagata, a tusk slash of the Tathagata, but a
disciple of the noble ones would not yet come to the conclusion,
‘The Blessed One is rightly self-awakened; the Dhamma is
well-taught by the Blessed One; the Sangha of the Blessed One’s
disciples has practiced rightly.’
“With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright,
unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and
attained to imperturbability, he directs and inclines it to
knowledge of the passing away and re-appearance of beings. He sees
— by means of the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human —
beings passing away and re-appearing, and he discerns how they are
inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, fortunate and
unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: ‘These beings — who
were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, and mind, who
reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions
under the influence of wrong views — with the break-up of the body,
after death, have re-appeared in the plane of deprivation, the bad
destination, the lower realms, in hell. But these beings — who were
endowed with good conduct of body, speech, and mind, who did not
revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions
under the influence of right views — with the break-up of the body,
after death, have re-appeared in the good destinations, in the
heavenly world.’ Thus — by means of the divine eye, purified and
surpassing the human — he sees beings passing away and
re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior and superior,
beautiful and ugly, fortunate and unfortunate in accordance with
their kamma.
“This, too, is called a footprint of the Tathagata, a scratch
mark of the Tathagata, a tusk slash of the Tathagata, but a
disciple of the noble ones would not yet come to the conclusion,
‘The Blessed One is rightly self-awakened; the Dhamma is
well-taught by the Blessed One; the Sangha of the Blessed One’s
disciples has practiced rightly.’
“With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright,
unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and
attained to imperturbability, the monk directs and inclines it to
the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. He
discerns, as it has come to be, that ‘This is stress… This is the
origination of stress… This is the cessation of stress… This is the
way leading to the cessation of stress… These are mental
fermentations… This is the origination of fermentations… This is
the cessation of fermentations… This is the way leading to the
cessation of fermentations.’
“This, too, is called a footprint of the Tathagata, a scratch
mark of the Tathagata, a tusk slash of the Tathagata. A disciple of
the noble ones has not yet come to conclusion, but he comes to the
conclusion,[4] ‘The Blessed One is rightly self-awakened; the
Dhamma is well-taught by the Blessed One; the Sangha of the Blessed
One’s disciples has practiced rightly.’[5]
“His heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, is released from the
fermentation of sensuality, the fermentation of becoming, the
fermentation of ignorance. With release, there is the knowledge,
‘Released.’ He discerns that ‘Birth is ended, the holy life
fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this
world.’
“This, too, is called a footprint of the Tathagata, a scratch
mark of the Tathagata, a tusk slash of the Tathagata, and it is
here that a disciple of the noble ones has come to conclusion: ‘The
Blessed One is rightly self-awakened; the Dhamma is well-taught by
the Blessed One; the Sangha of the Blessed One’s disciples has
practiced rightly.’”