Chih-i cites another allegory from the twenty-seventh chapter in the Nirvāṇa sūtra:

“It is like someone who puts poison in milk that can kill people, even the flavor of ghee can also kill people.”

This allegory is used for the purpose of illustrating that the Buddha nature is everywhere, and that all positions of the Perfect Teaching are equally significant, seeing that one can realize truth at any one of these stages. Chih-i analogizes fresh milk with the mind of an ignorant man, and poison with the knowledge of the Ultimate Truth. Poison can perish a life. Similarly, knowledge of the Ultimate Truth that is symbolized by poison possesses power to destroy ignorance. Chih-i points out that like poison, knowledge of the Ultimate Truth is always right here embedded in the mind of an ignorant man. This provides an underlying meaning of uncertainty, viz. it is not certain whether or not poison might start to break out in any given moment. Since the Five Flavors are filled with poison, all of them can kill. This means that a person can attain knowledge of the Buddha in any one of these given stages without having to go through each of them gradually. (Vol. 2, Page 232-233)