[“The Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra] preaches, “Medicine King! Know this that although many laymen or monks will practice the way of bodhisattvas, they will not be able to practice it satisfactorily unless they see, hear, read, recite, copy or keep this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma or make offerings to it.” This obviously means that though the bodhisattvas practice the Six Bodhisattva Practices and the Four Great Vows through the expedient practices of the Tripiṭaka teaching taking three hundred asaṃkhya kalpa, the Common teaching taking numerous dust-particle kalpa, and the Distinct teaching taking numerous asaṃkhya kalpa, they practice neither the right practices of bodhisattvas nor meritorious good acts until they reach the Lotus Sūtra. It is obvious that they cannot become Buddhas because they do not practice the right way of bodhisattvas.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha