In chapter 14, “A Happy Life,” Mañjuśrī praises the bodhisattvas of great attainment who have vowed to spread the sutra, and asks the Buddha how it might be propagated by those bodhisattvas with as yet little experience and by novices to religious practice. In reply, the Buddha expounds four types of peaceful practice: actions, words, thoughts, and vows.

1. The peaceful action of the body … is to abide in action (ācāra) and intimacy (gocara), as follows:

   (a) The bodhisattva here abides in a state of patience, is gentle and agreeable, is neither hasty nor overbearing, and is unperturbed of mind. He is not deceived by the dharmas, but sees all things as they really are and does not proceed along the undivided way.

   (b) The bodhisattva is not intimate with kings, princes, ministers, or courtiers, with yoga practitioners, religious wanderers, Ājīvikas, Jainas, or Lokāyatas, with caṇḍālas [dancers, singers, and actors], the poor, pork butchers, dealers in fowl, or hunters, nor with actors or entertainers. Nor does he wish to find favor with women, nor meet with them, and if he visits the homes of others, does not converse with any girl, daughter, or wife. Further, he observes that all dharmas are empty: that all things are correctly established, are not inverted, preserve their condition, are like space, are cut off from all verbal interpretations and expressions, are unborn, do not come forth, are unmade, are not unmade, are neither so or not . . . that they are cut off from all attachment, and that they are produced through inversion of thought.

2.  The peaceful action of words. … The bodhisattva who wishes to propagate this teaching should abide in the peaceful stage [of speech]. When he speaks to others, he should not point out errors in others’ teachings, speak ill of others, criticize them, nor find fault with them. By refraining from so doing, he will be able to teach intimately and deeply.
3. The peaceful action of thought. … The bodhisattva does not criticize, revile, or feel contempt for those who follow other teachings, he does not say that others will never attain buddhahood, and he dislikes disputations. Without discarding the power of his compassion, he regards the tathāgatas as fathers and the bodhisattvas as teachers. The bodhisattvas in all directions of space he worships and reveres from his deepest heart.
4. The peaceful action of vows. … Concerning those who have not as yet aspired after enlightenment, the bodhisattva should make the vow: “These living beings are poor in wisdom. They have not heard, known, realized, questioned, believed, or followed the words which secrete the deep meaning of the Tathāgata’s skillful means. Further, they have not tried to enter into this teaching and realize it. When I attain supreme and perfect enlightenment, wherever people are, I will move their hearts through my mystic supernatural powers and cause them to believe, to enter into the teaching, to gain realization of it, and to achieve maturity.” The sutra then goes on to say: “This Law-Flower Sutra is the foremost teaching of the tathāgatas and the most profound of all discourses. I give it to you last of all, just as that powerful king at last gives the brilliant jewel he has guarded for long. Mañjuśrī! This Law-Flower Sutra is the mysterious treasury of the buddha-tathāgatas, which is supreme above all sutras. For long has it been guarded and not prematurely declared; today for the first time I proclaim it to you all.”