The first of the four shared categories was that of the pre-Lotus Sūtra teachings, widely held to be incomplete, in that they denied the possibility of Buddhahood to certain groups: followers of the two “Hinayāna” vehicles of the voice-hearer (śrāvaka) and the condition-perceiver (pratyeka-buddha), women, and evil men. Their relationship to the Lotus Sūtra, however, was an issue of profound disagreement, most particularly between the Tendai and Nichiren Buddhist traditions. Many Tendai scholars maintained that, read in the light of the Lotus, all these earlier teachings could be integrated within the one vehicle as expressions of its various aspects (zettai kaie); from this hermeneutical perspective, the practices associated with them, such as the nenbutsu, could all be regarded as the practice of the Lotus Sūtra. For Nichiren and his later followers, however, all earlier teachings were to be rejected in favor of the Lotus Sūtra, which was to be embraced and practiced exclusively (sōtai kaie). From the standpoint of thought and practice, this represents the greatest point of cleavage between the two traditions. (Page 353)