The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs

Told by the Buddha himself in Chapter 5 (The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs), this parable uses the image of rain falling on diverse vegetation to illustrate the equality and impartiality of the Dharma.

A great cloud gathers and covers the entire world, then releases its rain upon all the land without distinction. The rain falls equally on mountains and valleys, on deep forests and open plains. Every kind of plant receives the same water: small herbs, medium herbs, great herbs, small trees, and great trees. The medicinal herbs that give the chapter its name are among the plants nourished by this single rain. Each plant absorbs the moisture according to its own nature and capacity -- the small herb takes what it can, the great tree draws up vast quantities -- but the rain itself makes no distinctions and shows no preferences.

The cloud is the Buddha, and the rain is his Dharma -- the teaching that falls upon all beings with perfect equality. The various plants represent the differing capacities and dispositions of sentient beings. Some are voice-hearers, some pratyekabuddhas, some bodhisattvas at various stages. Each benefits from the teaching according to their own measure, yet the teaching itself is of "one flavor" -- the single taste of liberation. The plants do not know one another's natures, nor do they realize that they are all nourished by the same rain. Only the cloud -- only the Buddha -- perceives the whole.

This parable complements the burning house by emphasizing not the urgency of rescue but the evenness of compassion. Where the burning house parable highlights the Buddha's skillful use of different means to reach different beings, the medicinal herbs parable stresses the underlying unity of his intention. There is no hierarchy in the Buddha's love: the small herb is as fully watered as the great tree. The diversity of outcomes reflects not any inequality in the teaching but the natural variety of those who receive it. This vision of impartial compassion raining equally upon all has become one of the sutra's most beloved images.