Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sutra is relatively brief and straightforward. In it, the Buddha announces that Ananda (his personal attendant) and Rahula (his son from his early days as a prince) will both become Buddhas, along with 2,000 other sravakas. All of them are delighted with this news.
Sravakas are practitioners who are committed to a path of renunciation and personal liberation: the so-called Hinayana. Here, the Buddha declares again that all the approaches he has presented so far, including the sravaka vehicle, leads inevitably to Buddhahood.
Do you notice a pattern developing from chapter to chapter here? What is the Buddha going with this?
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