Thereupon the Buddha said again to Medicine-King Bodhisattva mahāsattvas: “I have expounded many sūtras. I am now expounding this sūtra. I also will expound many sūtras in the future. The total number of the sūtras will amount to many thousands of billions. This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.

Whereas the preceding sections explicate the Dharma by way of man, the sections from here on explicate man by way of the Dharma. Because it is difficult to obtain the Dharma, it is difficult to find the men who receive and keep it also because it is difficult to believe and understand the Dharma.