Before the transmission of Buddhism to China and Japan, non-Buddhist teachings of the Three Emperors, Five Rulers, and Three Sages were used to educate the people and govern the country. As a result, human hearts hardened and virtue declined while evil flourished. Nevertheless, the depth of wisdom of the non-Buddhist doctrines did not pose a sufficient challenge to the depth of evil. As the country could not be governed by non-Buddhist teachings, Buddhism was adopted from India to govern the country peacefully. This was due solely to the superiority of Buddhism responding to the heart of the people.

What we call geten (non-Buddhist scriptures) today are not the same as the original gekyō (non-Buddhist sūtras). When Buddhism was transmitted, confrontation arose between non-Buddhist scriptures and Buddhist sūtras. Over time, however, the non-Buddhist scriptures were deemed inferior and cast aside, by both the king and the people. While supporters of non-Buddhist scriptures conceded to advocates of Buddhist sūtras — thus ending the dispute — they adopted the superior points of Buddhist sūtras and added them to their own. These are the non-Buddhist scriptures as we know them today. Ignorant kings, however, mistakenly thought that these non-Buddhist scriptures were originally excellent.

Moreover, as the quality of the human heart diminished, evil wisdom increased at the expense of virtuous wisdom. As a result Hinayāna sūtras, which are counted among the Buddhist scriptures, could not control the rising evil and the world fell into disarray. Mahāyāna sūtras were then spread to govern the world, achieving a measure of order. However, the world fell into disarray once again even with the wisdom of Mahāyāna sūtras. Thereafter, the wisdom of the One Vehicle Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, was employed to govern the world at the present time.

Chie Bōkoku Gosho, Evil Wisdom Destroying the Country, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 84-85