The living beings [of the six regions] are of one or another of the four kinds of births:

What they seek is [merit], [but their pleasure is] “not like the appropriate joy the fiftieth person would get in hearing the Dharma Blossom.” The merits of the four fruitions, as mentioned earlier, are of limited measure [in comparison with this joy]. [In contrast,] the Dharma Blossom, on behalf of li, represents the complete penetration of the ultimate of nothingness. Men have appropriate joys, which means that they have accomplished the path of Thus Come One. The path has been accomplished because of these men, so their merits cannot be easily kept down [from arising]. Hence, it is said, “[the merit] does not equal one-hundredth part, not one-thousandth part.” How can this be an empty [statement]?