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That great saviour of souls,
Goutama Buddha, once narrated the story of a sea turtle. It is called
Chiggala Sutta in Pali and illustrates the precious rarity of opportunity
that human birth provides --- we mustn't sell ourselves short; we owe it to
ourselves to enlighten ourselves. The Tathagata begins by asking his monks
to imagine a primal flood. Suppose this great earth was totally submerged,
he says, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole upon the waters.
Winds from the four directions would push the yoke hither and thither. Now
suppose a blind turtle lived underwater, rising to the surface once in a
century, he goes on. What would be the chances of that turtle finding that
yoke and sticking its neck into the hole?
"It would be a sheer
coincidence, Lord," the congregation replies. "Obtaining human birth is a
similar sort of coincidence," the Buddha responds. "It's also by coincidence
that a Tathagata, worthy and rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. The
chances of his preaching a practical sort of doctrine are equally quirky.
But now that this human state has been obtained; a Tathagata, worthy and
rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. And a doctrine and
discipline expounded by a Tathagata Appears in the world, it's your duty to
contemplate on the four Noble Truths, namely, this is suffering. This is the
origination of suffering and the path leading to its cessation. And this is
the path of practice leading to the extinction of suffering."
The fable does make you think
about odds. Modern astrobiology can relate with that sentiment. Indeed,
trying to unravel the universe and understand our place in the cosmos is one
of those activities that gives meaning to life and enriches it. But this
secular path only goes in one direction -- outwards, away from the observer.
This is best summed up by T S Eliot's Little Gidding: "We shall not cease
from exploration/ And the end of all our exploring/ Will be to arrive where
we started/ And know the place for the first time."
In contrast, the inward,
contemplative approach preached by the Buddha ends in a profound silence
that transcends all labels and sounds, including that of one hand clapping.
As the Master says in the famed Heart Sutra or Prajnya- Paramita, "Form is
emptiness and emptiness is form." Both are non-separate in the 'reality' of
the present continuous. Still your mind; Get that Satori. |
