ArtistA sea-turtle rises from oceanic depths in golden hour, breaking the surface with its head at the very center of an elliptical wooden yoke floating upon the vast open sea. From a neuronally-mediated probabilistic spatio-temporal past the echo of the original words being spoken in Pali, long-unheard by mortal beings: “Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west; a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south; a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think? Would that blind sea turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?” “It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole.” “It’s likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It’s likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathāgata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It’s likewise a sheer coincidence that a Dhamma & Vinaya expounded by a Tathāgata appears in the world. Now, this human state has been obtained. A Tathāgata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A Dhamma & Vinaya expounded by a Tathāgata appears in the world. “Therefore your duty is the contemplation, ‘This is stress … This is the origination of stress … This is the cessation of stress.’ Your duty is the contemplation, ‘This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress."
Representation of the Buddha's discourse on the likelihood of attaining human form. An exhortation to "Use it or lose it; the choice is entirely yours."
