When the Tathāgata Universal Surpassing Wisdom [Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata] received the entreaty of the Brahma heavenly kings of the ten regions and of his sixteen royal sons, he taught them the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths through the three ways of preaching.

The three ways of preaching are “show-rolling,” or ji-ten (to show the Four Noble Truths) ; “exhortation-rolling,” or kan-ten (to exhort to the practice of the Four Noble Truths), and “proof-rolling,” or shō-ten (to witness or prove that the Buddha has accomplished the Four Noble Truths). Because the tathāgata preached the Four Noble Truths in these three ways, the sutra says, “the Tathāgata Universal Surpassing Wisdom at once thrice rolled the Law-wheel of the twelve divisions.” Then he expounded in detail the Law of the Twelve Causes (jūni-innen), one of the fundamental teachings of the Buddha.