Dear Mathew,

Yes I am aware of the Buddhist interpretation (And I suspect the meaning is not so far from Patrick’s question.). Narahari has used the verse to emphasise the difficulty of even beginning on the 7 steps of knowledge. In the first edition of our book we translated the verse as

17.    Like the passing of the neck of a turtle
         through the eye of a yoke in churning waves,
         a person becomes discerning
         at the end of many births.

But with a closer examination of Divākara’s commentary and in consultation with a highly-respected Indian Sanskrit scholar we decided a better translation of the verse (following the commentary) was:  

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.

Divākara tells of the space in the middle of a pair of waves (yuga he interprets as yugman).

Jennifer

On Sun, Oct 26, 2014 at 10:20 PM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei@uchicago.edu> wrote:
Dear Jennifer,

This takes us away from Patrick's original question, but the parable of the turtle in the
ocean is very well known to Buddhist sources. In Praj~nākaramati's comments on
Bodhicaryāvatāra 1.4, for example, we read:

mahārṇavayugacchidrakūrmagrīvārpaṇopamā
"Like the turtle's neck that reaches the opening of a yoke in the great ocean..."

Buddhist sources understand yuga here literally as a yoke floating on a turbulent sea,
and interpret the metaphor to mean that it as difficult to obtain fortunate human birth as it is
for an old blind sea turtle to surface and by chance put his neck through a yoke
floating in the waves.

best,
Matthew

Matthew Kapstein
Directeur d'études,
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
The University of Chicago