Thereupon the Buddha said to Śāriputra: “Now I will tell you in the presence of this great multitude including gods, men, śramaṇas, and brāhmanas.”

This is the second segment. The gist of this part is that because there never has been the path of the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayāna) it turns out that [the Lesser] merely has been pointing toward the Buddha [path]. The enlightenment Body-son [Śāriputra] has built up was so profoundly manifest that [the Buddha] granted him a prophecy of his enlightenment. The story of the prophecy should not be held to be true in a real sense. [It was designed] merely for leading forward those who aspired to the prophecy.