One day, the Buddha recited to his disciples verses about his reflections on the night he attained Awakening:

Don't tire yourself with dreams about the future,
​And don't bother to make the past come alive,
Everything that was — remains behind,
And what will be — is unattainable here.

In the forms that the mind assumes,
conceive the lack of basis.
Having realized this, be firmly rest assured:
Ignorance will not arise again.

Know this: tomorrow may never come.
Now is the time for action:
Who can bargain with the King of Death?
Or measure their strength against him in battle?

Be one who comprehends the Path of Endeavor,
Without distractions, like the Moon and the Sun.
Become a sage who has fully realized peace,
On a night that shall be called good.

What does it mean to tire oneself with dreams about the future? It means thinking, "May I have such a body! May I have such a sensual experience! May I have such understanding and mental comprehension! May I have such volition! May I possess such consciousness!" However, those who see no pleasure in becoming something do not tire themselves with expectations and dreams.

What does it mean to trouble oneself with reliving the past? It means to hold on to and grasp memories of what the body, sensual perceptions, mental comprehension, volition, and consciousness were like before. However, those who are disillusioned with the pleasure of being anything do not trouble themselves with such holding on and grasping.

How do states of consciousness (the forms assumed by the mind) possess one's consciousness? Those who are not skillfully trained and do not venerate the Teaching are convinced that there must be some ultimate "I" that is the body, or that which possesses the body; that this "I" is within the body, or that the body is within it. And even if such people do not attribute this conviction, which assumes four forms, to the body, they attribute it to sensual perception, or to mental comprehension, or to volition, or to consciousness. Those who are well trained, however, who venerate the Teaching, know that in these four attitudes towards the body, perception, understanding, volition, and consciousness, whether wholesome or unwholesome, there is no ultimate "I".

(The four attitudes towards the skandhas, freed from the conviction of the ultimacy of their “I”, are transformed into the four powers of concentration:

Concentration on the body, sensual perception, understanding, volition and consciousness is concentration through the power of intention.

Concentration on the possession of a body, sensual perception, understanding, volition and consciousness is concentration through effort.

Concentration on what is within the body, sensual perception, understanding, volition and consciousness is concentration through mindfulness of impermanence, since impermanence is the inner content of all phenomena.

Concentration on what encompasses the body, perceptions, understanding, volition and consciousness is concentration through recognition and investigation, since these qualities encompass phenomena.)

Conclusion

On the good night of his Awakening, the Buddha attained three kinds of supernatural knowledge: knowledge of past lives, knowledge of the paths of future incarnations, and knowledge of the disappearance of the stains which defile the mind. With these three kinds of knowledge, he realized the absence of any ultimate “I” in the past, future, and present. Having attained the three supreme knowledges, the Buddha experienced an unshakable, peace-giving certainty in the ultimacy of his liberation from ignorance.