The Parable of the Good Physician
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wondrous Dharma,
Chapter 16: The Life Span of the Eternal Tathagata
There once was a physician who had great wisdom. He was an expert in preparing medicines and curing all manner of diseases. He had many children. One day, while he was out, his children mistakenly drank a medicine that had poisonous properties. The medicine gradually took effect, leaving the children writhing on the ground in agony. At that moment, their father returned home. When they caught sight of their father, they were all overjoyed.
They told their father what had happened and asked him to save their lives. The father instantly ground the necessary medicinal herbs, mixed them together, and prescribed the medicine, which was perfect in color, smell, and flavor, saying, “Take it. It will quickly eliminate your suffering and ensure that hereafter you will never become sick again.” The children who had not completely lost their senses drank it immediately and completely recovered. However, the others, who had lost their senses due to the poison, were unwilling to take the medicine because it looked unappealing to them.
The father felt pity for his children and thought about a way to save all of them. He told them that they should take the medicine and left. Later, he sent a messenger to inform the children that he had died. When the children heard of their father’s death, their hearts ware filled with grief. The helpless feeling that there was no one left to rely on finally brought them to their senses, and they realized how precious the medicine was. The children who had not taken the medicine, and had continued to suffer, finally drank it and were completely cured of the poison’s effects. As soon as the father heard that all of his children had recovered, he returned home and let all of them see him.”
Commentary
The physician, the father of the children, represents the Buddha, and the children represent us, all living beings. The poisonous medicine indicates our delusions, namely, the three poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance; and the effective medicine indicates the teaching of the Buddha, or the Lotus Sutra.
Although Shakyamuni, the Eternal Buddha who is neither arising nor ceasing, is always present and close to us, we human beings are not aware of his presence, and are instead attached to phenomena developing in front of our eyes, let our minds swayed by them, and suffer.
The Buddha taught us that all things are nothing other than provisional appearances that arise according to the law of cause and effect, and those who heard and accepted this teaching were liberated from their attachment and attained spiritual peace.
However, those who were liberated once can eventually end up being selfish and going against the Buddha’s teachings when they become distant from the Buddha who has been guiding them. As the Buddha was concerned that this might happen, he expounded this parable.
The children who mistakenly took the poison and were suffering while the father was away were delighted to see their father come home. It means that even people who are swayed by delusions are the children of the Buddha and therefore they are delighted when they see the Buddha.
To liberate all suffering people, the Buddha prepared various kinds of medicinal herbs, ground them, compounded them to prescribe medicine to meet the condition of each individual; each medicine is perfect in color, smell, and flavor, and is easy to take. It testifies to the overflowing compassion of the Buddha, who wishes to liberate all people from suffering.
Just as the children who immediately took the medicine prescribed by their father, people who accept the Buddha’s teachings unhesitatingly are liberated instantly. Some other people, however, do not feel like hearing or accepting the teachings. It is because they are seriously deluded that they falsely believe that the medicine prescribed for them do not taste good and it must be hard to drink. Those who live only to satisfy their senses consider the practice of keeping the Buddha’s precepts constraining and practicing the bodhisattva way for the sake of others to be troublesome.
The Buddha conceals himself temporarily from those people. Historically, this means that Shakyamuni who was born as a human being in this world entered nirvana. In the hearts of people who were grieved and disheartened by the death of Shakyamuni, an awareness of the need to stand on their own feet would arise. To establish sound and independent faith in our mind, it is important for us, more than anything else, to seek and practice the teachings on our own. The Buddha disappeared to enable us to realize this. When all children took the medicine and they have completely recovered, the father, whom children had thought dead, come home and appear before them once again. This means that if we seek the Buddha’s teachings earnestly and put faith in them from the bottom of our heart, the Buddha will naturally appear before our eyes; in other words, we can become aware of the presence of the Buddha, who is always staying by our side.
Editorial supervision by the Chuo Academic
Research Institute
*Commentary is based on Buddhism for Today and The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Commentary, both by Nikkyo Niwano.