法華玄論 9.185

9.185

Answer: When he first attained the path he opened the one into three; up until before the Lotus Sūtra, in seeking his sons he had not yet found them. Starting from the Lotus Sūtra he first converged the three into the one, and in searching for his sons he first found them; therefore, the end of a single period of transformation culminates entirely in the Lotus Sūtra. Hence there were people as numerous as the dust motes of immeasurable worlds who all attained awakening to the path; therefore at this time they are brought together as one capacity. For those who again had not attained awakening in the Lotus Sūtra, the Tathāgata furthermore proclaimed extinction, and only upon reaching the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] did they attain comprehension; therefore this is the meaning of an inferior-capacity person.