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en/images/c/ ce/Fishturtle. jpg 2x”width=”250″height= “141 “/ > The Fish and the Turtle (Is Nibbana Nothingness?)When upon a time there was a fish. And just because it was a fish, it had actually lived all its life in the water and understood absolutely nothing whatever about anything else however water. And one day as it swam about in the lake where all its days had actually been invested, it took place to fulfill a turtle of its associate who had just come back from a little excursion on the land.
“Good day, Mr. Turtle!” said the fish. “I have actually not seen you for a long time. Where have you been?”
“Oh”, stated the turtle, “I have simply been for a journey on dry land.”
“On dry land!” exclaimed the fish. “What do you imply by on dry land? There is no dry land. I had actually never seen such a thing. Dry land is absolutely nothing.”
“Well, “stated the turtle good-naturedly.” If you wish to believe so, obviously you may; there is no one who can impede you. But that’s where I’ve been, all the very same.”
“Oh, come,” stated the fish. “Try to talk sense. Simply inform me now what is this land of yours like? Is all of it damp?”
“No, it is not wet,” stated the turtle.
“Is it good and fresh and cool?” asked the fish.
“No, it is not nice and fresh and cool,” the turtle replied.
“Is it clear so that light can come through it?”
“No, it is unclear. Light can not come through it.”
“Is it soft and yielding, so that I can move my fins about in it and press my nose through it?”
“No, it is not soft and yielding. You could not swim in it.”
“Does it move or stream in streams?”
“No, it neither moves nor flows in streams.”
“Does it ever rise up into waves then, with white foams in them?” asked the fish, impatient at this string of Noes.
“No!” responded the turtle, honestly. “It never rises up into waves that I have seen.”
“There now,” exclaimed the fish triumphantly. “Didn’t I inform you that this land of yours was just absolutely nothing? I have actually simply asked, and you have answered me that it is neither damp nor cool, unclear nor soft and that it does not stream in streams nor rise up into waves. And if it isn’t a single among these things what else is it however nothing? Don’t inform me.”
“Well, well”, said the turtle, “If you are figured out to think that dry land is absolutely nothing, I expect you should just go on believing so. But any one who knows what is water and what is land would state you were simply a ridiculous fish, for you think that anything you have actually never ever known is nothing even if you have actually never ever understood it.”
And with that the turtle turned away and, leaving the fish behind in its little pond of water, set out on another expedition over the dry land that was absolutely nothing.
Source: “The Buddha and His Mentors” by Maha Thera Narada.
Source
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