Dear Patrick,
Another possible Sanskrit verse – from a Kashmir source
…from Bodhasāra by Narahari (in a section on the 7 steps of knowledge in Rāja Yoga)
athā ca vāsiṣṭhe |
calārṇavayugacchidrakūrmagrīvāpraveśavat |
anekajanmanāmante vivekī jāyate pumān ||17||
Also in the work called Yogavāsiṣṭha,
17. Just like the head of a struggling turtle
finally surfaces into a calm
in the midst of innumerable turbulent waves,
so a person finally becomes discerning after many births.
(Cover, Jennifer and Grahame (2014). Bodhasara The surprise of awareness, Createspace, USA, p174-175)
(Narahari (1905). Bodhasāra (with a commentary by Divākara), Benares Sanskrit series. Benares: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Book Depot, p223)
F/N (Cover p175-176)
Yogavāsiṣṭha (Nirvāṇaprakaraṇam Book 6.1 Section 126, verse 4) (Yogavāsiṣṭha of Vālmīki 1984:1050) and Laghu Yogavāsiṣṭha (Laghu-Yogavāsiṣṭha 6.15.14). The sense here is that it is extremely difficult to become discerning. There are seven steps of knowledge, but even to begin on the first step takes effort, and possibly many births. The difficulty of a struggling turtle finally surfacing into a calm in the midst of innumerable turbulent waves, is a clear metaphor for the level of difficulty. Mark Allon has found a short sūtra, for which this same powerful image is central, in the third of six texts written on scroll 22 ([recto]II. 31-56) of the Gāndhārī texts preserved in the Senior collection of Kharoṣṭhī Buddhist manuscripts (Allon 2006).([recto]II. 31-56) of the Gāndhārī texts preserved in the Senior collection of Kharoṣṭhī Buddhist manuscripts (Allon 2006).