The Parable of the Skillful Physician and His Sick Children reminds us that the Lotus Sutra is the perfect medicine to cure all the sufferings of this world and this life. It is perfect in every way and is the actual essence of Buddhism throughout eternity. The Buddha says, I have left you, meaning us, this perfect medicine in the form of the Lotus Sutra. Here “left” has two meanings, one being that he has given us the perfect medicine and the other that he has seemingly disappeared. The intent here is to cause us, the sick children, to pick up the good medicine because it will cure us of all our sufferings. All we need do is take it. And because he wants us to appreciate it he shows his death to us as an expedient to make us want to practice harder and to value this priceless teaching encapsulated in the Lotus Sutra.