Judaism crowing at sunrise, ending the morning watch According to Ed Arcton, the Jews divided the night into three watches where each watch represented the period when guards began their duty. The term "watches of the night" is found in
Psalms 63:6, which indicates a personal commitment during the night and a time for meditation and prayer, accenting the significance of spiritual alertness. The Jewish calculation acknowledged three such watches, titled the first or "beginning of the watches"' (
Lamentations 2:19) (sunset to 10pm), the middle watch (
Judges 7:19) (10pm to 2am), and the morning watch (
Exodus 14:24;
1 Samuel 11:11) (2am to sunrise). It was argued by
John Lightfoot (in
Matthew 14:25) that the Jews rather used four watches, three only being in the dead of the night, and the fourth being in the morning. According to the
Baraita, a tradition in the
oral Torah of
rabbinical Judaism, "The night consists of three watches, and during each watch the Holy One sits and roars like a lion...The sign for this: in the first watch, a donkey brays; in the second, dogs howl; and in the third, a baby nurses from its mother and a woman converses with her husband." The
Mishnah ("ashmurah", "ashmoret" or "mishmarah", meaning "watch") features the old division of three watches conforming to the tradition in the
Holy Temple. In Christianity, the four watches of the night are: The first watch (6 pm to 9 pm) or the evening watch, second watch (9 pm to midnight) or the midnight watch, third watch (midnight to 3 am) or the cockcrow watch, and the fourth watch (3 am to 6 am) or the morning watch, all of which indicating a ceaseless and vigilant contemplation on
God throughout the night, since nighttime is associated with fear and danger.
Buddhism In
Buddhism, the phrase is found in the
Dhammapada in chapter 12 (
Attavaggo), which reads "If one regards oneself as dear one should guard oneself right well, during one of the three watches of the night the wise one should stay alert." The
Mahayana tradition associate it to
the Buddha's procession through important powers. In
Theravada, it embraces multiple characteristics, such as highlighting the Buddha's deep reflection,
Ananda's recitation of the
Ratana Sutta that displays devotion, and the stages of perception during
contemplation on
Paticcasamuppada, alongside evaluating the
Tathagata's anticipated passing. The true "three knowledges" are said to be constituted by the process of achieving enlightenment, which is what the Buddha is said to have achieved in the three watches of the night of his
enlightenment.
Hinduism In
Hinduism, the phrase "Three watches of the night" represents both the restlessness of
Indrajit's father during conflict and the traditional division of nighttime for rest, reflection, and different activities, highlighting the twofold nature of the night. The three watches of the night (tiyāmā) are: paṭhamayāma, majjhimayāma, and pacchimayāma (first, middle, and last watches). The practice of dividing the night in watches was common in the ancient world. ==Literature==