In [Saichō’s] schemes of doctrinal classification, Saichō developed both exclusive and inclusive readings of the one vehicle that would be important to the development of medieval Tendai thought and practice. In his written debates with Tokuitsu, Saichō argued the superiority of the Lotus over all other teachings from a number of angles. For example, he asserted that the Lotus alone represents the standpoint of “effect,” or the Buddha’s enlightenment (kabun); other sūtras, such as the Avatarpsaka, reflect the standpoint of “cause,” or of those still in the stages of cultivation (inbun).49 He also distinguished the Lotus as the “direct path” (jikidō) or “great direct path” (daijikidō) to enlightenment, in contrast to both the “roundabout path” of the Hinayāna and the “path requiring kalpas” followed by bodhisattvas of provisional Mahāyāna. In Saichō’s view, a practitioner of the Lotus endowed with unusually keen faculties might even be able to realize Buddhahood with this very body (sokushin jōbutsu), though he confined this possibility to persons who had already achieved the first abode, or the fifth of the six stages of identity, which, according to T’ien-t’ai doctrine, comprise the Buddhist path. Practitioners of lesser faculties would be able to realize Buddhahood in the next lifetime, or in the lifetime after that. … [T]he doctrine of realizing Buddhahood with this very body, as interpreted by Saichō’s disciples, was crucial to the development of medieval Tendai original enlightenment thought. Saichō also interpreted the Lotus Sūtra as particularly suited to the time and to the capacities of the Japanese people, claims that would be further developed in the thought of Nichiren (1222-1282).