The Path to Enlightenment: Understanding Dhammakāya : หน้า 142/263

the knowledge arising from cognition may be erroneous. The knowledge arising from 'knowing', by contrast, de- pends on the Dhammakāya — it is knowledge based on true wisdom such as the Four Noble Truths — accessed by seeing and knowing directly the arising of suffering, craving as its cause, that because of arising there must be decay i.e. cessation [nirodha] and that self-discipline, meditation and wisdom are the only things that can lead one to such cessation. All this is seen by the eye of the Dhammakāya. All this is known with the knowing [nāṇa] of the Dhammakāya." If we were to conclude the process of Right Practice by which the bodhisatva was able to attain Buddhahood, then he started by striving in the practice of meditation and insight at the foot of the Bodhi Tree on the eve of Visākha Pūja Day. He had made the vow to himself: For however long it may take me to attain enlightenment as a Fully-Enlightened Buddha, even if my body should shrive and die leaving only skin, sinew and bone, I will not rise from this meditation seat. The bodhisatva then strove in meditation making continu- ous progress until reaching his avowed goal. In the first watch of the night, the bodhisatva attained recollection of his own previous lifetimes [pubbenivāsāņusatināṇa]. In the second watch of the night he attained knowledge of the birth and rebirth of beings in the cycle of existence according to their karma [cutūpāṭaṇāṇa]. In the third watch of the night the bodhisatva attained knowledge that he had eradi- cated all defilements from his mind [āsavakkhayaṇāṇa]. All three of these attainments came via the eye of the