We can often feel that our inner nature is rather dim or discouraged or that we are wandering in darkness, hoping sometime soon to reach clarity.

Today, December 8th, is Rohatsu, the day that the Buddha is said to have awakened, or attained enlightenment. In other words, he saw into the true nature of life, and through this, we are told, “the mind found its way to peace”.

It is said he meditated all through the night and in the predawn hours he looked up, saw the morning star, and exclaimed:

How Wonderful, Everything is already awake. How magnificent! 

Thoughts prompted by a dharma talk given by David Rynick entitled Transcendent Enlightenment