third group of the listeners of Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Buddha’s teaching ［大通結縁の第三類］ ( Daitsū-kechien-no-daisanrui): The third of three categories of persons who heard the Lotus Sutra of Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Buddha from Shakyamuni when he was the sixteenth son of that Buddha in the remote past. They are described in the “Parable of the Phantom City” (seventh) chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The three categories are (1) those who took faith, embraced the sutra without faltering, and attained Buddhahood; (2) those who at first took faith in the sutra, but later abandoned it and accepted lower Buddhist teachings; and (3) those who heard the sutra, but did not take faith in it. See also “Parable of the Phantom City” chapter.