BuddhismSutra-obooko-mind0029

modern buddhism
have reached the human world for just a brief moment from
our former lives, and we have the opportunity to attain the
supreme happiness of enlightenment through practising
Dharma. This is our extraordinary good fortune. When we
attain enlightenment we shall have fulfilled our own wishes,
and we can fulfil the wishes of all other living beings; we shall
have liberated ourself permanently from the sufferings of this
life and countless future lives, and we can directly benefit each
and every living being every day. The attainment of enlightenment
is therefore the real meaning of human life.
Enlightenment is the inner light of wisdom that is permanently
free from all mistaken appearance, and whose function
is to bestow mental peace upon each and every living being
every day. Right now we have obtained a human rebirth and
have the opportunity to attain enlightenment through Dharma
practice, so if we waste this precious opportunity in meaningless
activities there is no greater loss and no greater foolishness.
This is because in future such a precious opportunity will be
extremely hard to find. In one Sutra Buddha illustrates this by
giving the following analogy. He asks his disciples: ‘Suppose
there existed a vast and deep ocean the size of this world, and
on its surface there floated a golden yoke, and at the bottom
of the ocean there lived a blind turtle who surfaced only once
in every one hundred thousand years. How often would that
turtle raise its head through the middle of the yoke?’ His disciple,
Ananda, answers that, indeed, it would be extremely rare.
In this context, the vast and deep ocean refers to samsara
– the cycle of impure life that we have experienced since
beginningless time, continually in life after life without end –
the golden yoke refers to Buddhadharma, and the blind turtle
refers to us. Although we are not physically a turtle, mentally
we are not much different; and although our physical eyes may
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