[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › 23.21 # 法苑珠林 23.21 法苑珠林 23.21 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [23.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23.21) 我昔聞有一小兒。經中說盲龜值浮木孔其事甚難。時此小兒。故穿一版作孔受頭。擲著池中。自入池中。低頭舉頭欲望入孔。水漂版故不可得值。即自思惟。極生厭惡。人身難得。佛以大海為喻。浮木孔小盲龜無眼。百年一出。窬難可值。我今池小其版孔大。復有兩眼日百出頭。猶不能值。況彼盲龜而當得值。即為說偈云。 > I once heard that there was a young boy who \[learned that\] the sūtras say that a blind turtle encountering the hole in a floating piece of wood is an exceedingly difficult matter. At that time, this young boy deliberately pierced a board to make a hole that could receive his head, threw it into a pond, entered the pond himself, and bobbed his head up and down wishing to enter the hole. Because the water drifted the board away, he could not encounter it. He immediately reflected to himself, giving rise to extreme revulsion: 'The human body is difficult to obtain. The Buddha used the great sea as an analogy: the hole in the floating wood is small, the blind turtle is sightless and emerges only once every hundred years, making it even more difficult to encounter. Now my pond is small, the hole in the board is large, and I also have two eyes and stick my head out a hundred times a day, yet I still cannot encounter it. How much less could that blind turtle encounter it!' Thereupon he spoke verses: > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 23.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23.20) - [Next: 23.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23.22) - [Up: 23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.23.21) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.23.21) · Pramāṇa