I got it! 

I lost it . . . 

A momentary flash of achievement.

Perhaps it will come when we open our eyes during a group chanting session and clearly see the candles, incense holder, and flowers in front of the statue of Amitabha Buddha. Suddenly, for a brief instant, there are no stirring of thoughts—no thoughts of labeling, discriminating or attaching.

Instead, perceiving everything correctly, our mind remains still—this is the “I got it” moment.

We recognize what just happened but in the next nanosecond, a tsunami of our usual thoughts overwhelms us. We start to label what we see. Thoughts of good or bad, thoughts of like or dislike, thoughts of clinging or aversion—all arise from within us.

And with all these thoughts, the realization of “I lost it!” But we remember that amazing flash of pure seeing. And how uncluttered and clear it felt. And know that we just had a taste of what awakened beings know as the state of wondrous observation.