I downloaded it from Compuserve many years ago, and have not been able to find the source since. 
If you know where this text is from, please email me: veet@totallyok.com 

Extracts from The Lotus Sutra and The New Human Revolution Volume 3 


In describing his enlightenment, Shakyamuni said:

	'Thus I remembered my various past lives -
 the first life, the second life, the third life,
 the fourth life, the tenth life, the twentieth
 life, the thirtieth life, the fortieth life, the
 fiftieth life, the hundredth life, the thousandth
 life, the hundred thousandth life, the countless
 formations of the universe, the countless destructions
 of the universe, the formations and destructions of
 the universe. I remembered what my given names had
 been, what my surnames were, what my tribal names
 were, what I ate, what pleasures and sorrows I experienced.'


	Now Shakyamuni understood:

 	"The entire universe is subject to the same constant rhythm of
 creation and change.  This applies equally to human beings.  Those now
 in infancy are destined to grow old and eventually die and then be
 reborn again.  Nothing, either in the world of nature or human society,
 knows even a moment of stillness or rest.  All phenomena in the
 universe emerge and pass into extinction through the influence of some
 external cause.  Nothing exists in isolation; all things are linked
 together over space and time, originating in response to shared causal
 relationships. Each phenomenon simultaneously functions as both cause
 and effect, exerting an influence on the whole.  Moreover, a Law of
 life permeates the entire process."

 	Shakyamuni had grasped the wondrous truth of existence.  He was
 convinced that he could develop himself limitlessly through this Law he
 had awakened to.  All criticism, obstacles and hardships would be
 nothing more than dust before the wind.

 	Shakyamuni thought:

	"Unaware of this absolute truth, people live under the illusion
 that they exist independently of one another.  This ultimately makes
 them prisoners of their desires, estranging them from the Law of life,
 the eternal and unchanging truth of existence.  They wander about in
 darkness and sink into unhappiness and suffering.

 	"But such darkness stems from delusions in one's own life.  Not
 only is such spiritual darkness the source of all evils but also the
 essential cause of people's suffering over the realities of birth,
 aging, sickness and death.  By confronting this evil in our own lives -
 - this delusion and ignorance -- we can open the way to true humanity
 and indestructible happiness."