A Yoke With a Hole (1st)Paṭhamachiggaḷayugasutta

“Mendicants, suppose a person were to throw a yoke with a single hole into the ocean. And there was a one-eyed turtle who popped up once every hundred years.“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, puriso mahāsamudde ekacchiggaḷaṁ yugaṁ pakkhipeyya. Tatrāpissa kāṇo kacchapo. So vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena sakiṁ sakiṁ ummujjeyya.

What do you think, mendicants?Taṁ kiṁ maññatha, bhikkhave, Would that one-eyed turtle, popping up once every hundred years, still poke its neck through the hole in that yoke?”api nu kho kāṇo kacchapo vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena sakiṁ sakiṁ ummujjanto amusmiṁ ekacchiggaḷe yuge gīvaṁ paveseyyā”ti?

“Only after a very long time, sir, if ever.”“Yadi nūna, bhante, kadāci karahaci dīghassa addhuno accayenā”ti.

“That one-eyed turtle might poke its neck through the hole in that yoke, but in any case it’d be sooner than a fool fallen to the underworld is reborn as a human being, I say.“Khippataraṁ kho so, bhikkhave, kāṇo kacchapo vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena sakiṁ sakiṁ ummujjanto amusmiṁ ekacchiggaḷe yuge gīvaṁ paveseyya, na tvevāhaṁ, bhikkhave, sakiṁ vinipātagatena bālena manussattaṁ vadāmi.

Why is that?Taṁ kissa hetu? Because in that place there’s no principled or moral conduct, and no doing what is good and skillful.Na hettha, bhikkhave, atthi dhammacariyā, samacariyā, kusalakiriyā, puññakiriyā. There they just prey on each other, preying on the weak.Aññamaññakhādikā ettha, bhikkhave, vattati dubbalakhādikā. Why is that?Taṁ kissa hetu? It’s because they haven’t seen the four noble truths.Adiṭṭhattā, bhikkhave, catunnaṁ ariyasaccānaṁ. What four?Katamesaṁ catunnaṁ? The noble truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.Dukkhassa ariyasaccassa …pe… dukkhanirodhagāminiyā paṭipadāya ariyasaccassa.

That’s why you should practice meditation …”Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, ‘idaṁ dukkhan’ti yogo karaṇīyo …pe… ‘ayaṁ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti yogo karaṇīyo”ti.