The Tree of Enlightenment

physician who has been away from home for a long time returns
to find that his sons have taken poison and are seriously ill. He
sets about preparing an excellent remedy for them according to
his knowledge of medicine. Some of his sons immediately take
the medicine he offers and are cured of their illness.
Other sons, however, although they have looked forward to
their father’s return and assistance, are now unwilling to take the
medicine he offers because they are already too deeply affected by
the poison. ey fail to appreciate the excellent properties of the
medicine and continue in their grave illness. Seeing this, their
father devises a way to induce them to be cured: he tells them
that he is already advanced in years, that the time of his death
is near, and that he must again travel to another country. He
then leaves and has a message sent back to his sons telling them
that he has died. Moved by the news of their father’s death – and
desperate now that there will be no one to look after them and
cure them – they take the medicine and are cured. Hearing of
their recovery, the father returns and is happily reunited with
his sons.
rough this parable, we are given to understand that the
Buddha’s appearance in the world is like the return of the physician
who has journeyed to a neighboring country. Upon his
return, he finds that his sons, the people of the world, have
ingested the poison of greed, anger, and delusion and are distressed,
ill, and suffering. He devises a cure for their suffering,
which is the Dharma, the path to liberation. Although some
of the people of the world follow the path and achieve liberation,
there are others who are too deeply afflicted by the poison
of greed, anger, and delusion and who therefore refuse to follow
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