In a village, there was a Grhapati.  He was old and very rich.  He had lots of lands, houses, and servants.  This Grhapati's house was huge.  The main house was old, the walls were fallen in ruins, the pillar roots were rotten, and the beam of the house was crocked.

Suddenly, the house was on fire.  The Grhapati's sons were in this house.  The Grhapati was horrified when he saw fire burning the house.  He thought, although he can safely escape from the door, but his sons were happily playing inside of the house.  They did not aware that the house was on fire.  Then he thought, there was only one door in this house, and that door was small and narrow.  His sons were too young to aware that the house was on fire, they were long for what they were playing, and they could be burn by the fire.  He should tell them that this house was on fire, all of them should leave the house right away.  Do not let the fire taking their lives.  So the Grhapati told his sons about this immediately.  Although the father told his sons that the house was on fire, but his sons just glance at him then they went back to play again.  They did not believe and did not want to accept the truth.  They did not know what the fire would do to the house.

Meanwhile, the Grhapati thought, this house was burning by the fire, if his sons and himself did not get out of here in time, they all be killed by the fire.  He had to think of a way to prevent the fire taking his sons' lives.  The father knew that his sons like various kinds of rare and precious toys, so he told his sons that, there were rare and precious toys outside of the house, if they did not go out to get the toys, they all be regretted for that.  And he promised to give his sons whatever they want.  The sons all rushed out of the house once they heard what their father said.  The Grhapati's mind was full of peace and joy after he saw all of his sons leaving the burning house safe and sound.  They all set down on a lot outside of the house.  Then the sons asked their father to give them the rare and precious toys that he promised them.  The Grhapati generously gave each son a rare and precious great ox cart.

The Buddha is like this Grhapati, he is the father of all sentient beings.  He sees that all the sentient beings are living in the burning house of the triple world.  They are burning by the fire of birth, old, sick, death, worry, ignorance, and three poisons; and are having various kinds of sufferings caused by the five desires arising from the objects of the five senses and greed.  They then suffer in the hell, animal, and hungry ghost realms.  Or they are rebirth in the heaven as gods or goddesses, or in the human realm.  All the sentient beings are neither aware nor horrified by these sufferings: the suffering in poverty, the suffering of being separated from those whom one loves, and the suffering of having to meet the hateful.  They enjoy and sink in these sufferings, and they do not generate the mind of weary of the world and want to abandon it.  They do not want to liberate from karma and from those sufferings.  The sentient bings reside in this burning house of the triple world, are running from the east to the west and from the west to the east.  Even though they are in great suffering, they do not troubled by these sufferings.  When Buddha sees this, he thought, he is the father of all sentient beings, he should pull those sufferings out of the sentient beings, and give them the joy of the Buddha-wisdom.

In order to save and set free all sentient beings, Buddha uses skillful and appropriate methods to deliver all the sentient bings to apart from the sufferings and to gain happiness and great wisdom.