Filial piety of the Confucian School limits itself to this life. Since it does not help the parents in the future life, its sages and wise men are empty names without reality. Other non-Buddhist schools may know about past and future lives but they have no way of saving parents. Only Buddhism helps parents in their future lives. Therefore, those in Buddhism are worthy of the name of “sage and wise man.” Even in Buddhism, however, various scriptures and sects expounded before the Lotus Sutra were unable to help people obtain enlightenment themselves, much less their parents. They have only words without meaning. Only when the Lotus Sutra was expounded and said that women could obtain Buddhahood, our mothers’ obtaining Buddhahood became possible; and when it said that even a wicked man like Devadatta could obtain Buddhahood, our fathers’ obtaining Buddhahood also became possible. This is the sutra of filial piety among all Buddhist scriptures.

Opening the Eyes, Kaimoku-shō