Upaya — skillful means — licenses adapting the teaching to the audience, and it is what let Buddhism become Chinese, Tibetan, and Japanese rather than remaining Indian. The Lotus Sutra's parable of the burning house has a father promise his children different toys to get them out of a fire, then give them all something better; the tradition reads it as permission for provisional teachings. Critics have noted that the doctrine can justify almost anything, which is a fair concern the tradition takes seriously.