According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences for the Parable of the Priceless Gem

Just as when a certain man goes to the house of a friend, gets drunk and falls asleep and does not know that his friend, having to go out on official business, has tied a priceless jewel inside his garment as a present, but goes to another country and undergoes great hardship to get food and clothing, the Buddha, when he was a bodhisattva, taught us to conceive the idea of perfect wisdom, but we soon forgot, neither knowing nor perceiving. Having obtained the arhat-way, we said we had reached nirvana; in the hardship of gaining a living we had contented ourselves with a mere trifle.

Just as the friend who gave the jewel happens to meet him later and, seeing his condition, tells him that he has tied a priceless jewel within the man’s garment and that it is still there, our aspirations after perfect wisdom still remain and were never lost; now the World-Honored One arouses us and says, “That which you have obtained is not final nirvana. For long I have caused you to cultivate the roots of buddha-goodness, and through my skillful means have displayed a form of nirvana. However, you have considered it to be the real nirvana you had obtained.”

Just as the friend urges the man to go and exchange that jewel for what he needs, and do whatever he wants, free from all poverty and shortage, now we know we are really bodhisattvas predicted to attain perfect enlightenment. For this cause we greatly rejoice in our unprecedented gain.