THE BUDDHA'S AWAKENING 17During the third watch (2 A.M. to dawn), the Bodhisattva acquired the
third cognition (and sixth superknowledge): that of the ending of the asravas.
This involved realizing the principle of pratitya-samutpada (dependent co-aris-
ing; see Section 1.4.3), the interdependent pattern of 12 preconditions
whereby the asrava of ignorance gives rise not only to du~kha (personal suffer-
ing) but also to the experience of the world of rebirth as a whole. By meditat-
ing on this pattern as it displayed itself directly to his awareness, Gautama was
able to unravel it and gain release. In the Pali Sutta he reports: "When the
mind was thus concentrated ... and attained to imperturbability, I directed it
to the knowledge of the ending of the asravas. I discerned, as it actually was,
that 'This is dul).kha .... This is the origination of dul).kha.... This is the
cessation of dul).kha .... This is the way leading to the cessation of dul).kha ....
These are the asravas .... This is the origination of the asravas .... This is the
cessation of the asravas .... This is the way leading to the cessation of the
asravas.' My heart, thus knowing, thus seeing, was released from the asrava of
sensual desire, released from the asrava of becoming, released from the asrava
of views, and released from the asrava of ignorance. With release, there was
the knowledge, 'Released.' I discerned that, 'Birth is ended, the holy life ful-
filled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.' This was the
third knowledge I attained in the third watch of the night. Ignorance was de-
stroyed; knowledge arose; darkness was destroyed; light arose-as happens in
one who is uncomplacent, ardent, and resolute."
In short, the Bodhisattva's remembering of his past lives during the first
watch of the night allowed him in the second watch to see the mechanism of
karma that determined the fates of all beings. By focusing on the source of
karma in his own mind during the third night watch, he came to see the laws
underlying all karma and conditioned experience and, through his insight, at-
tained unconditioned release.
The new day dawned on Gautama, now the Buddha. According to leg-
end, the natural world celebrated the event with miracles. The earth swayed,
thunder rolled, rain fell from a cloudless sky, and blossoms fell from the heav-
ens. Gautama's ancestors, then sages in paradise, observed his victory and of-
fered him reverence. The Buddha thus fulfilled, at the spiritual level, the family
obligation that, as a Bodhisattva, he seemed to have forsaken in the worldly
sense.
1.4 AN INTERPRETATION OF THE
AWAKENING
What actually happened on the night of the Awakening? The oldest account
is stylized and exhibits typical mythic features. It purports, though, to be au-
tobiographical, and there is reason to believe that at least parts of it originated
with Gautama himself. First-person reporting of "peak experiences" was
not a common genre in pre-Buddhist Indian literature and flourished only