In this story [in Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata], the physician, the children’s father, is compared to the Buddha, and the children are like us, ordinary people. The father’s fictitious death is like the Buddha’s entrance into Nirvana. The children suffering from poison means that our life is afflicted by various worldly desires, the most basic of which are called the “three poisons” (greed, anger, and ignorance). We who writhe in agony but reject the Buddha’s eternal existence, are like delirious children. Only when he has left us, and we have found no other remedy, will we accept the remedy which he has left behind for us to take. And only after we have taken it in faith, does he reveal himself to us in his glorious reality.

We can comprehend this as a theory, or understand in our minds what is meant by the Eternal Buddha, but still not have faith in him. We can understand Buddhism, but still not realize its power. Only when we believe in him, can we actually see the Buddha.