There is another triple division culminating in the essential section. Innumerable sūtras beginning with the Lotus Sūtra expounded during the time of the ancient Great Universal Wisdom Buddha, those preached by Śākyamuni Buddha during fifty some years of His lifetime—including the Flower Garland Sūtra, fourteen chapters of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, and the Nirvana Sūtra—as well as those preached by Buddhas in all the worlds in the universe in the past, at present, and in the future are the preface to the great dharma of five characters hidden in the lines of the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Life Span of the Buddha.”

Compared to the “one and two-halves chapters” of the Lotus Sūtra (the sixteenth chapter, the second half of the preceding chapter and the first half of the following chapter) which comprises the main discourse according to this division, all other sūtras may be called Hinayāna teachings, false teachings, teachings that do not lead to Buddhahood, or teachings in which the truth is not revealed. Those who listen to these “expedient” teachings have little virtue and much illusion; they are immature in thinking, poor in heart, and solitary; like birds and beasts, they do not know the existence of the Eternal Buddha, who is their father.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 152