Tripiṭaka 5. Papātavagga
5. A Cliff
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“Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, puriso mahāsamudde ekacchiggaḷaṁ yugaṁ pakkhipeyya. Tatrāpissa kāṇo kacchapo. So vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena sakiṁ sakiṁ ummujjeyya.
“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.
api nu kho kāṇo kacchapo vassasatassa vassasatassa accayena sakiṁ sakiṁ ummujjanto amusmiṁ ekacchiggaḷe yuge gīvaṁ paveseyyā”ti?
Would that one-eyed turtle, popping up once every hundred years, still poke its neck through the hole in that yoke?”
“Yadi nūna, bhante, kadāci karahaci dīghassa addhuno accayenā”ti.
“Only after a very long time, sir, if ever.”
“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.
“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.
Na hettha, bhikkhave, atthi dhammacariyā, samacariyā, kusalakiriyā, puññakiriyā.
Because in that place there’s no principled or moral conduct, and no doing what is good and skillful.
Aññamaññakhādikā ettha, bhikkhave, vattati dubbalakhādikā.
There they just prey on each other, preying on the weak.
Adiṭṭhattā, bhikkhave, catunnaṁ ariyasaccānaṁ.
It’s because they haven’t seen the four noble truths.
Dukkhassa ariyasaccassa …pe… dukkhanirodhagāminiyā paṭipadāya ariyasaccassa.
The noble truths of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path.
Tasmātiha, bhikkhave, ‘idaṁ dukkhan’ti yogo karaṇīyo …pe… ‘ayaṁ dukkhanirodhagāminī paṭipadā’ti yogo karaṇīyo”ti.
That’s why you should practice meditation …”
Sattamaṁ.