The provisional bodhisattvas are not granted the most difficult and crucial mission of spreading the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Age of the Dharma because they represent the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra. … The Bodhisattvas of the Earth, however, represent the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. The essential teaching shows that buddhahood is immediate, without beginning or end, and ever-present in the lives of those who have faith in the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha.