four great voice-hearers ［四大声聞］ ( shidai-shōmon): Mahākāshyapa, Subhūti, Maudgalyāyana, and Kātyāyana, whose attainment of Buddhahood is predicted in the “Bestowal of Prophecy” (sixth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. These four belong to the group of intermediate capacity among Shakyamuni’s voice-hearer disciples. They constitute the second of the three groups of voice-hearer disciples who understood the teaching of “replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle” through the parable of the three carts and the burning house related in the “Simile and Parable” (third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. They express their understanding of this teaching in the “Belief and Understanding” (fourth) chapter of the sutra by relating the parable of the wealthy man and his poor son. In that chapter, after having related this parable, Mahākāshyapa says: “We today have heard the Buddha’s voice teaching and we dance for joy, having gained what we never had before. The Buddha declares that the voice-hearers will be able to attain Buddhahood. This cluster of unsurpassed jewels has come to us unsought. . . . Now we have become voice-hearers in truth, for we will take the voice of the Buddha way and cause it to be heard by all.”