When the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sūtra at the Hall of Enlightenment, various Buddhas appeared from the worlds in ten directions, and all great bodhisattvas gathered together. Moreover, the Great King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, and the Four Heavenly Kings danced for joy; eight kinds of gods and semi-gods such as dragon gods held their hands together in reverence; the wiser among ordinary men bent their ears to Him; and various bodhisattvas such as Moon of Emancipation (Vimuki-candra), who have attained enlightenment during the present life, begged Him to preach. However, Śākyamuni did not even reveal the names of His two most important teachings: “Obtaining Buddhahood by men of the Two Vehicles, śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha” (nijō-sabutsu) and “Śākyamuni’s attaining Enlightenment in the eternal past” (kuon-jitsujō). Nor did He expound the fundamental doctrines of the “becoming a Buddha with one’s present body” (sokushin-jōbutsu) and “3,000 existences contained in one thought” (ichinen-sanzen). It was not that He did not speak of those doctrines because no one had the capacity to understand them. It was solely because, as stated in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 2 on “Expedients”, “the time was not ripe. ”

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 188-189