The Buddha explained how difficult it is for a one-eyed turtle to find a floating sandalwood log with a suitable hollow, even after immeasurable, boundless kalpas.  He employed this analogy to illustrate the rarity of encountering the Lotus Sutra.  One should be aware, however, that, even if one should encounter the floating sandalwood log of the Lotus Sutra, it is rarer still to find the hollow of the Mystic Law of the daimoku, which is difficult to chant.

佛陀解釋說，一個獨眼龜，是要找到一個合適的空心漂浮的檀香木空穴，甚至在無量，無邊劫後，任是多麼困難。他運用這個比喻來說明遇到妙法蓮華經“的稀有性。然而，人們應該知道，，即使遇到妙法蓮華經“的浮動檀香木，它依然是罕見找到空心和諧的杉木棲身，念頌法華經題目是很難解的妙法。

(WND, 958)

The One-eyed Turtle and the Floating Log

Written to the widow of the lay priest Matsuno on 03/26/1279