The bodhisattva way is affirmed throughout the Dharma Flower Sutra. The Sutra does not reject other ways, neither the shravaka way nor the pratyekabuddha way, but it does make them subordinate to the way of bodhisattvas, which, revealingly, is also called “the Buddha Way.” This is because the bodhisattva way is understood to be a path leading one to becoming a buddha, that is, to embodying the Buddha in one’s life. Lesser goals may be useful and effective in leading one to the bodhisattva way, but they should be regarded as entrances to the way, or resting places along the way.

Thus it is that the four great bodhisattvas – Superior Practice, Unlimited Practice, Pure Practice, and Firm Practice – who lead the great horde of bodhisattvas who emerge from the earth are said to display, or correspond to, the four great bodhisattva vows:

Firm Practice: However innumerable living beings are, I vow to save them all;

Pure Practice: However innumerable hindrances are, I vow to overcome them all;

Unlimited Practice: However innumerable the Buddha’s teachings are, I vow to master them all;

Superior Practice: However supreme the Buddha Way is, I vow to reach it.

These four vows make clear what the way of the bodhisattva is: It is devotion to the goal of helping everyone to attain the potential they have within themselves to be a buddha.