Dutiyachiggaḷayuga sutta: A Yoke With a Hole (2nd)

“Mendicants, suppose the earth was entirely covered with water. And a person threw a yoke with a single hole into it. The east wind wafts it west; the west wind wafts it east; the north wind wafts it south; and the south wind wafts it north. And there was a one-eyed turtle who popped up once every hundred years.

What do you think, mendicants? Would that one-eyed turtle, popping up once every hundred years, still poke its neck through the hole in that yoke?”

“It would be an anomaly, sir.”

“That’s how anomalous it is to get reborn as a human being. And that’s how anomalous it is for a Realized One to arise in the world, a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha. And that’s how anomalous it is for the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One to shine in the world. And now, mendicants, you have been reborn as a human being. A Realized One has arisen in the world, a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha. And the teaching and training proclaimed by a Realized One shines in the world.

That’s why you should practice meditation …”