The third watch the Buddha achieved led to the ending of the asravas. The asrava's are what binds a person and keeps them ignorant. The root of suffering is ignorance, therefore, the third watch had the largest impact on the Buddha. By meditating on the dependant co-arising witch feeds the asrava, the Buddha was able to unravel this pattern and achieve awakening. 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 discerened, as it actually was, that 'this is duhkha....this is the origination of duhkha...This is the cessation of duhkha...this is the way leading to the cessation of duhkha...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.'(R/J pg17). With knowledge of how the asravas worked and how they ended, and consequently the effects, the Buddha was able to release himself of the four asravas. After the third watch the Buddha states, "Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world." (R/J pg 17).
             Although the Third watch lead to the awakening of the Buddha, the first and second watch were as important as the third. The first watch of the Buddha, he attained the first cognition: knowledge of his many thousands of lifetimes he had experience prior. "When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives."(R/J pg 15). There, in the experiencing of his past lives, the Buddha saw all that binded him and how conditioned his previous lives were. Following each passing from each life he re-arose, and began a new life with new asravas.
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