From Mushin:
Just after we’ve recite the Gatha of Atonement in the full morning service, we intone the mantra, Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. I honor the Sacred One, the Worthy One, the Truly Awakened One. This line is the beginning of a longer mantra which affirms the qualities we realize as the self beyond our own unique self. We go beyond the “me” who feels separate from the world. We wake up to the Sacred One, the Worthy One, the Truly Enlightened One when we realize this directly, and actually see this for ourselves.
Until then, it would seem to be just hearsay to us, a rumor that we think about and hope for. But once thinking is left behind, and we wholeheartedly engage our life as it is, the challenge becomes living it clearly and honestly. Already when we chant this mantra we are claiming the call to true intelligence and full life energy. Bringing our whole self to the chanting we join with a Great All-Embracing Vow to Awaken and share the benefit throughout space and time. Imagine this. This is profound. This is serious and potent. We enact this vow already every time we chant Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa. This is why we are all encouraged not to hold back when we chant, but instead to throw our whole self into it and discover it as a true taste of being awake.
