Celebrated each year in early December, this beautiful ceremony commemorates "the reopening of the Way" by Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our world cycle. The evening sitting starts at the usual time with zazen, then Roshi tells the story of the Buddha's Great Enlightenment, and passages from the sutras are read aloud as everyone chants. Following the ceremony a special dessert of sweetened milk-rice (kheer) is served; this is the first nourishment that the Buddha took to gain strength after his period of extreme ascetic practice and before accomplishing anuttara samyak sambodhi (complete, perfect enlightenment).