[Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma,] opens with Sakyamuni speaking to a Bodhisattva named Medicine-King in the presence of eighty thousand great beings:

Medicine-King! Do you see the many human beings, nonhuman beings, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen in this congregation, who are seeking the goals for Sravakahood and Pratyekabuddhahood or the enlightenment of the Buddha? If any of them rejoice in my presence, even for one moment’s thought, at hearing a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra, I can assure them all of their future Buddhahood. Even after my extinction, if they rejoice for one moment’s thought at hearing a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra, I can assure them all of their future attainment of supreme-perfect-enlightenment. Moreover, if anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds, and copies even a verse or a phrase of the Sutra, and respects a scroll of the Sutra just as he respects me, and makes offerings to it, he or she should be considered to have already made offerings to ten billion Buddhas in a previous existence, and will surely become a Buddha in a future life.

These words of the Buddha introduce a new development in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Up until Chapter 10, only “hearers” had been assured of their future Buddhahood. This statement, on the other hand, indicates that not only the “hearers,” but all other people in the congregation are also assured of future Buddhahood. What is more, the account goes on to say that even after the Buddha’s extinction, anyone who rejoices at hearing the Sutra will be assured of his or her future Buddhahood. Furthermore, these words tell us that after the Buddha’s extinction, the Lotus Sutra should be written on a scroll, and we should respect it and make offerings to it.