The Parable of the Honest and Excellent Physician

“I wrote the following parable as a reaction to a lie told by the Buddha in the famous The Parable of the Excellent Physician (Juryo Chapter, Lotus Sutra)” – Steven Searle.

The Parable Begins:

Imagine a wise and skilled physician who can compound medicines to cure any disease. He has 50 sons and 50 daughters, each of whom he loves dearly. A man of great wealth and renown, he lives on a great estate with many wives and others who are zealous in their care of these children.

He journeys to a distant land at the personal request of the king. In his prolonged absence, the children’s caretakers become lax in their attentiveness. They see that the older children seem very able and very willing to take care of themselves and their younger brothers and sisters. The older children try very hard to be good guardians and the younger ones are cooperative and obedient.

This respect worthy relationship is due to the great, all-encompassing love felt by each child for each brother and sister, and to the immense respect they all have for their father. The caretakers, over time, lose their sense that even the most capable of their charges are still only children and are still in need of guidance. They are overly impressed with what is, in reality, a very limited form of enlightenment being manifested by the children. This enlightenment appears to be very profound simply because the caretakers themselves have only a limited capacity to judge and weigh the merits of the various types of enlightenment.

Left to their own devices, some of the older children gain access to a supply of various ingredients. When mixed together, these attain the appearance and taste of something quite desirable – but, in fact, would cause slow and painful death if ingested. The older children are so impressed with their alchemy that they forget their father’s oft-issued warning: “Just because something appears to be good, does not mean that it is. Many have died from such a delusion.”

The older children eagerly share the product of their “enlightenment” with their younger brothers and sisters. All eat fatal portions with great abandon and with great pleasure, all delighting in this great discovery. Before long, however, they all become ill – imperceptibly at first, but within a few days, many are reduced to a state of animality.

At this time the father comes back to his home and finds that his children have poisoned themselves. Some are out of their minds with delirium, while others are not so badly affected. Seeing their father so close to them after such a prolonged absence, all are filled with joy and kneel down to entreat him, saying, “How wonderful that you have returned safely! We were stupid and have poisoned ourselves. We beg you to give us some medicine to save our lives.”

The father quickly determines the nature of that which the children have eaten. Gathering the appropriate ingredients, he grinds, sifts and mixes them together in a large iron vessel. He offers this preparation to his children, saying, “Approach this vessel and benefit from its contents. This action will save your lives!”

Each child approaches this wondrous vessel – some with palsied steps, others with great conviction. But the medicine smells foul and causes the children to cry out, “This awful concoction cannot possibly save us; it must be an even deadlier poison. Our father must be making a mistake here.”

The father immediately scoops a generous portion from the vessel; then, with great melodramatic flair, chews and swallows it. Those who are not out of their minds, follow their father’s example, not even waiting to see if the concoction is in fact poisonous. Their faith is rewarded with a rapid clearing of the mind and an appreciable lessening of bodily discomfort. The father exhorts the other children to follow his example. The cured children are quick to again follow their father: They too exhort the unconverted children to partake of this foul-tasting but life-saving medicine.

The good doctor sees his dying children being exhorted by his cured children and also by the shame-faced caretakers. Such caring! Such devotion! He also sees his own shortcomings. Though he reads the minds of the caretakers, thus coming to know of their dereliction, he realizes that he has to shoulder a significant portion of the responsibility here. [Imagine! The children of a physician poisoning themselves!] But he also realizes that if any of his children die, that would be due to karma: his as well as theirs.

The father senses, correctly as it turns out, that the unconverted children will not be persuaded to take this life-saving medicine. As his mind races desperately for a solution, a daring plan starts to take shape. Perhaps he could, on some pretext, announce his departure, leaving behind this wonderful medicine, and then later send a messenger to announce his death to his children. This ruse could serve to shock them sufficiently into taking this medicine and saving their lives.

But…this would be a lie. And this physician was renowned even more for his honesty than his excellence. He could not tolerate even the thought of telling a lie, of creating a false cause for which false effects would eventually arise. True, this lie could save his children’s lives. But this would only be an immediate, short term effect. The false effects would become apparent and indeed multiply and assume great karmic depth as his children reflected more and more on the fact that their father could lie.

In a loud and clear voice full of conviction, the father chants a prayer in the presence of his children and caretakers. It does not take long for the cured children and the caretakers to join in the good doctor’s prayers – prayers which are most appropriate for this era and place. Before too long, even the sickest child is at least murmuring these prayers.

These prayers succeed in saving some lives; however, all 50 of this excellent and honest physician’s sons die, leaving him with 50 daughters. This is a terrible state of affair in this particular country, in this particular era, where only male offspring are deemed to be worthy inheritors. The bereaved father chants earnest and heartfelt prayers for the sake of his departed sons. Then he addresses his daughters and their caretakers:

“I purposely rejected a scheme which could have saved the lives of my sons. [After detailing the ruse of lying about his own death, he continues speaking.] I am telling you this now because of my firm conviction that NO lie is acceptable, not even this lie: silence about my contemplated ruse: in effect, pretending now that I had done all I could to save the lives of my dear sons. I tell you this because my sons already know of my contemplated ruse from their particular vantage point and because of this which I sincerely believe: Especially when it comes to matters of knowledge, daughters should not be treated any differently than sons.

“From death must come value which we must create. The first value to be created from the death of my sons is that I hereby voice my conviction that you, my daughters, are the equal of my sons. You shall inherit my estate upon my death. I will see to it that our king is persuaded to change the evil customs that lessen daughters in the eyes of the people. The king owes me favors and I know he will listen to me.

“Some of you may hate me for, in effect, killing your brothers by not lying about my demise. But I have never told a lie nor withheld the truth and I urge you to vow to always do the same. Your brothers are merely not with us at present. However, they died ideally: due to a cause of their own creation, and quickly. If I had lied to save them, then they would be encouraged to rely on unnatural interventions to save them from the folly of their ways. There’s no enlightenment to be gained by following that path. Their premature deaths are a cause that serves to obliterate evil karma which they’d accumulated from the distant past. Dying young, under favorable circumstances, can do this.

“If you must hate me for my truthfulness, then remember this: ‘One must learn not only how to love one’s enemies, but also how to hate one’s friends.’¹ It’s alright to hate me, but I implore you: learn how to hate me. Also consider this: If the circumstances of their deaths can speed their attainment of enlightenment, for how long can you hate me?

“The most useful, value-creative truth at this time is that it is really only a matter of time before you are reunited with your brothers. And I assure you: it will not be long at all before you are reunited.”

This parable has a delightfully improbable ending, although probability has nothing to do with the Law. Over the course of the next few years, this excellent physician brings into this world 50 babies whose mothers tragically die in childbirth and whose fathers are not honest enough to stay around to care for them. These 50, all boys, become the adopted sons of the excellent and honest physician. They, the daughters, and the father all sense the honest origins of the 50 boys. Yet, true to his word, upon his demise, it is the 50 daughters who inherit this honorable physician’s estate. And true to their upbringing, these true daughters treat these “true” sons truly – as equals.

¹ With apologies to Nietzsche’s Zarathustra.

:The Parable Ends.

Closing Comments:

I believe that everybody has religious or spiritual truth buried within; though with many, it’s buried pretty deeply. This extends even to atheists and agnostics, though they might refer to such truth using a variety of names: insight, perspective, common sense, wisdom, heightened practicality, etc.

We should encourage a national dialog on matters of ethics, spirit, skepticism, and various types of logic and foundation. This should extend to inviting our children to listen to our wisdom and to share with us their versions of reality. Even our youngest citizens should be shown that there is a great diversity of feeling on these subjects, even in their local communities.

Within our schools, dialog sessions should be encouraged including opinionated members of the community invited as guest speakers. I would like to see students joining some future USA President on the White House lawn with other adult citizens. If this President happened to be a Buddhist, he could offer an opportunity for anyone present to join him in a brief chanting session to kick off such gatherings. At least, for the first such gathering. For future gatherings, other leaders and non-leaders should offer their opening prayers.

Calvin Coolidge said, “The business of America is business.” To which I would add: “…not entirely, and certainly not at the expense of its humanity.” We should create space for more and more people to openly and actively – even in public forums – reclaim that humanity, even at the expense of business.

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Steven Searle, just another member of the Virtual Samgha of the Lotus

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com