I will tell you a parable. There was once an excellent and wise physician. He was good at dispensing medicines and curing diseases. He had many sons, numbering ten, twenty, or a hundred.

This example symbolizes the Buddha who exists [forever] in reality but who says he will soon be extinguished. Living beings formerly received [from him] transformative teaching; they are “sons” born of the bodhisattva. Twenty refers to the two vehicles. Hundred or more indicates “many.” He who cures diseases on the basis of the [sufferer’s] present [condition) is a “physician.”

[One day] he went to a remote country on business.

Having transformed this [realm], he must also transform that [realm], without taking any rest.

After he left home, the sons took poison. The poison passed into their bodies, and the sons writhed in agony, rolling on the ground.

Their understanding is small and they suffer from delusion; they are likened to those who “drink poisonous medicines.” “Going astray from li,” they belong to the “other.” The condition (pratyaya) of delusion arises: “The medicines start becoming effective.” Having received consciousness of death and birth, they are likened to being in “agonized pain and confusion.” [Being in the cycle of] birth and death, they are “rolling about on the earth.”

At that time the father returned home.

The li underlying the former transformative teaching is true; it is “home.” The condition for receiving teaching overcomes them and they return to the city of Gayā and recognize it; they “return.”

Some sons had already lost their right minds while the others still had not.

Ever since they received the teaching, [some of] them have practiced the right path all the time: they “have not lost their sanity.” Going astray from it, [some of] them “have lost [their sanity].”

All the sons saw their father in the distance and had great joy.

Conditions develop in such a way that they overcome their ignorance, on a shallow level, and approach li, gradually, little by little: They “see from afar.” But as they see that form [incarnated] in response [to the different needs of individual beings] they are all “[over]joyed,” and there is no one who does not offer alms to him and praise him.

They begged him on their knees, saying, ‘You came back safely. We were ignorant. We took poison by mistake.

The process of overcoming [ignorance] having been started, the true reveals the erroneous. What is said here is an unreal, tentative statement.

Cure us, and give us back our lives!’

They have appealed to him to heal them; he “heals” them, that is, he revives their wisdom-life. This also is an unreal, tentative statement.

Seeing his sons suffering so much, the father consulted books of prescriptions, and collected good herbs. having a good color, smell and taste. He compounded a medicine by pounding and sieving the herbs, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is a very good medicine. It has good color, smell and taste.’

All that the Buddha has preached about the Dharma, in accordance with the way [beings] respond, has the same goal: it is “tasty.” The words describe their external joy: they are “colorful.” They have had their thought rectified inside and outside: it is “fragrant.” The [Buddha’s] teaching manifests the ultimate consequence, unity in the markless (wu-hsiang/animitta): he “pounded, sifted, and blended them.”

Take it! It will remove the pain at once and you will not suffer any more.’

He meant “to order them to take.” This also is an unreal, tentative statement.

The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely.

They apprehended [the Buddha’s] purport: they “took it.” They had their delusions removed: they were “healed.”

But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

Although they knew that it was a medicine, they remained ignorant of its purpose; thus it was “no good.”

He said to them, ‘Know this! Now I am old and decrepit. I shall die soon.

Likewise, the Buddha’s age was eighty; his form was like a worn-out vehicle. He was just about to enter parinirvāṇa.

I am leaving this good medicine here. Take it! Do not be afraid that you will not be cured!

If the Great Dharma of the six pāramitās is not kept, it will disappear. li is not subject to destruction; when practiced, it will remain.

Having thus advised them, he went to a [remote] country again. Then he sent home a messenger to tell them, ‘Your father has just died.’

[The Buddha] carried out again [his mission] to convert the rest; he “went again to another realm,” He entered nirvāṇa under the twin trees; his words and traces were completely extinguished: he “sent a messenger back to declare, ‘Your father is dead.’ ”

Having heard that their father had passed away from this world, leaving them behind, they felt extremely sorry. They thought, ‘If our father were alive, he would love and protect us. Now he has deserted us and died in a remote country.’

They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless. Their constant sadness finally caused them to recover their right minds. They realized that the medicine had a good color, smell and taste. They took it and were completely cured of the poison.

Seeing the Buddha entering nirvāṇa, they were awakened to the fact that [the Buddha] did not exist eternally. They began to realize what the Buddha had said: it turned out to be “tasty.” They apprehended the purport: they “took it.”

On hearing that they had recovered their health, the father returned home, and showed himself to them.

They comprehended the profound meaning. They were beginning to see the Buddha, [yet] there were those who had not seen the Buddha in corporeal form. To them he also “came back.”

Good men! What do you think of this? Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?

The [Buddha’s] intention was to make beings gain consciousness [of reality], and the result was that he saved beings. Even though the [Buddha’s] words are lacking in consistency, [the underlying] li does not contradict the truth. Although [the Buddha] preached all day long, by preaching he did not commit “the sin of willfully false speech.”