Women’s capacity for buddhahood was not the only message that East Asian exegetes drew from the nāga princess episode. Her story was also taken as evidence that some practitioners might “realize buddhahood with this very body” (sokushin jōbutsu). Within the Tiantai tradition, Zhanran may have been first to use this term for the nāga princess’s enlightenment. One might question how her enlightenment could be termed realizing buddhahood “with this very body” when she transforms into a man. However, commentators did not necessarily see this sex change as a complete bodily transformation, such as one undergoes between successive lifetimes. The doctrine of sokushin jōbutsu, which developed especially in Japan, had two major implications: a drastic shortening of the length of time deemed necessary to achieve enlightenment, and the possibility of doing so without first eradicating the defilements of an ordinary person.

Saichō identified this doctrine as one of the ways in which the Lotus Sūtra surpasses all others. In contrast to conventional Mahāyāna notions of the bodhisattva path as requiring three incalculable eons to fulfill — a position maintained by his chief rivals, the Hossō school — Saichō saw the Lotus Sūtra as the “direct path” or “great direct path” of rapid realization, requiring only one, two, or at the most three lifetimes. The nāga girl’s story underscored this possibility. She had, Saichō noted, a threefold hindrance: as a nāga, she belonged to the animal realm; she was female and of poor faculties; and being only eight years old, she had not been able to devote much time to religious discipline. Nonetheless, through the wondrous power of the Lotus Sūtra, she had attained buddhahood.