January, 2007
A BLIND TURTLE AND A FLOATING BOARD
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima
Happy New Year! Thank you very much for all that you have done for us last year. My wife and I
would like to express our deep gratitude from the bottom of our hearts for your ongoing
thoughtfulness.
When I look over the schedule of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego for 2007, there are, as usual,
many events and activities planned. Above all, San Diego and Vista Buddhist Temples will co-host
the 2007 Family Conference, a big event in the Southern District. So we will be very busy this year.
Although many members have already been preparing for the conference from last year, I am very
grateful in advance for your help and dedication. I sincerely hope that together we will liven up our
temple to make all activities successful.
When I look back at the world situation this past year, there were many wars and crimes which
wasted too many lives throughout the world. Although we feel very sad to know this reality year after
year, I wonder what on earth we have learned so far and where we will set the direction in the life
that we can only live once.
Above all, I felt the most regrettable thing about last year is that there were so many Japanese
children who committed suicide. At present in Japan, there is the phenomenon of children who
commit suicide because they are being bullied. This social problem is not restricted to Japan
because America has the same problem. But in Japan, there were over 20,000 people—including
adults—who committed suicide in the last year. If I try to convert this number, it means 60 people
died of suicide each day.
Why did promising children have to kill themselves? My heart nearly breaks with grief when I think
about young children who couldn’t ask for advice, who suffered alone in distress and loneliness,
then tearfully decided to commit suicide. As Buddhists, how should we face this serious social
problem?
First, I think that it is very important for both people who bully and people who are being bullied to
realize the preciousness of the life that they have received. The life that we receive from our
parents has the magnificent history of the universe wrapped in our parents’ own boundless wishes
for us. This life is a great favor that, no matter how hard we try, we cannot repay. We should realize
how precious it is that we are able to be born into this world as human and that we live at this
moment.
Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, teaches us the difficulty of receiving human life in
this world in a sutra called Zo-Agon. There is a story called, “A Fable of a Blind Turtle and a
Floating Board” in this sutra.
One day, Shakyamuni Buddha posed the following question to his disciple, Anan:
“Now suppose there is a blind turtle at the bottom of the boundless ocean. This turtle will be able
to show his face at the surface of the sea only once in a hundred years. A board is floating on the
ocean’s surface and there is a small hole in the middle of it that turtle can put his face into. When
this turtle—which can come to the surface only once every hundred years—comes to the surface,
can he put his face into the hole in that board even one time?”
Anan answered, “It’s impossible! Even if it took hundreds of millions of years or even millions of
millions of years for the turtle to be able to put its face in the hole, it would be very hard to do it.”
Then Buddha said, “I know everyone thinks that it’s impossible! But are you sure? To be born into
this world as a human is infinitely more difficult than a blind turtle putting his face into the hole in a
board!”
Can you imagine this? One blind turtle drifts about at the mercy of the waves in the vast expanse
of the sea for a hundred years, or even one thousand years, in order to look for the floating board.
When he finally encounters it, he thinks he will be able to put his face in the hole. But quite
unexpectedly a breeze springs up, disturbing the surface and makes the board moves and the turtle
fails.
Another hundred years pass and again the turtle happens upon the drifting board. This time,
ripples make the board move away and again the turtle fails. So it is extremely difficult for a blind
turtle, dependent on wind and wave, to find the drifting board and to put his face in its opening even
if a chance of once a hundred years comes. It is an astounding story!
Still, as Shakyamuni Buddha teaches us, to receive human life in this world is even more difficult. I
fully realize again the words of the Three Treasures.
Each one of us has a precious life that nobody can disturb and trespass. In the life that we can
only live once, Amida Buddha always leads us in the direction that we who have received human life
should take: respecting one another and making each precious life shine.
While hailing in the New Year, I would like for us to deeply consider once again the existence of
our lives. “Rare is it to receive life in human form; yet, now I have received it.” I believe that if we
were to truly rejoice and appreciate our existence, we would come to realize how precious all lives
are and how hard we should try to treasure all lives as if they were our own.
Each day we are alive, all of us will encounter many hardships and distresses. However, no matter
how awkward a position we are in, I sincerely hope as Buddhists we will always be grateful and
rejoice that we have received life in human form.
In Gassho,
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