8.
The Second Discourse on the Yoke with a Hole
1118.
"Just as, monks, this great earth might be covered with one mass of water.
There a man might throw in a yoke with a single hole.
The east wind would carry it westward, the west wind would carry it eastward, the north wind would carry it southward, the south wind would carry it northward.
There might be a blind turtle.
He would emerge once every hundred years.
What do you think, monks, would that blind turtle, emerging once every hundred years, insert his neck into that yoke with a single hole?"
"It would be by chance, venerable sir, that that blind turtle, emerging once every hundred years, would insert his neck into that yoke with a single hole."
"Just so by chance, monks, is it that one attains human existence. Just so by chance, monks, is it that a Truth-finder arises in the world, a Worthy One, a Perfectly Enlightened One. Just so by chance, monks, is it that the Teaching and discipline proclaimed by the Truth-finder shines in the world. For him, monks, human existence has been obtained, a Truth-finder has arisen in the world, a Worthy One, a Perfectly Enlightened One, and the Teaching and discipline proclaimed by the Truth-finder shines in the world.
"Therefore, monks, exertion is to be done regarding 'This is suffering', etc. exertion is to be done regarding 'This is the practice leading to the cessation of suffering.'" The eighth.