The first part of Chapter Seventeen is counted as part of the “one chapter and two halves” that constitute the “main exposition” section of the origin teaching. The remainder of the chapter (from “At that time the Buddha addressed bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya … ,” (245) speaks of the merits to be gained after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa and thus begins the “dissemination” section of the origin teaching. Nichiren drew on this chapter and the next to support his fundamental assertion that chanting Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō is the practice appropriate to the Final Dharma age and contains all possible merit — indeed, the whole of the Buddhist path — within itself.