Stories of the Buddha HOME> Stories of the Buddha Select Category: Stories of the Buddha Life Protection Murals Chan Art and Stories The Rareness of Being Human [Listen to audio]When the Buddha taught the Dharma, he was always skillful in using parables to help people understand the profound doctrine. One day, in order to help his disciples understand the rareness of being born as a human, he related the following parable, “In the ocean there is a blind sea turtle that comes up to the surface once every hundred years. If there is a wooden plank with a small hole floating in the ocean, the chance of the blind turtle’s head passing through the small hole is extremely small. The chance of being born as a human is the same as that of the blind turtle poking its head through the hole of the floating plank.” This is the famous Parable of the Blind Turtle. List of Entries Educating RahulaLies are Like a Dirty BasinRahula was the first sramanera in Buddhist history, being only nine when ...More Maudgalyayana Rescuing His Mother[Listen to audio] ...More Kusha Grass[Listen to audio] ...More Caring for Young People[Listen to audio] Among the ten great disciples of the Buddha, Katyayana was the great...More Sitting on the Road to Save His Clan [Listen to audio] ...More Converting Matanga[Listen to audio] Among the Buddha’s monastic followers, Ananda was the youngest a...More Instructing Cudapanthaka[Listen to audio]One day, while the Buddha was walking past the door of the monk’s quarters, he he...More Liberating Nidhi[Listen to audio]One day, the Buddha went for a walk with Ananda. When the two reached the outskirt ...More Liberating the Mother of Demons[Listen to audio]Once there was a woman named Hariti who would eat children. Though she loved her ow...More Devadatta's Attempts to Harm the Buddha[Listen to audio]Devadatta was a monk who wished to displace the Buddha as the leader of the sangha....More First 1 2 Last