Quotes From the Lotus Sutra, Vol. 1
Śāriputra! What do I mean by saying that it is for this one great cause alone that the buddhas and the World-Honored One appear in the world? The buddhas and the World-Honored One appear in the world to unveil the knowledge and insight of the buddhas so that sentient beings can attain purity. They appear in the world to demonstrate the knowledge and insight of the buddhas to sentient beings. They appear in the world to help sentient beings realize the knowledge and insight of the buddhas. They appear in the world to enable sentient beings to enter into the path of the knowledge and insight of the buddhas.
Reference: Gene Reeve, 2008 The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classics, p. 83.
Excerpts From A Discourse on The Lotus Sutra
Venerable Xiao Pingshi
“Therefore, to help sentient beings realize the knowledge and insight of the buddhas and attain purity, the buddhas appear in the world to unveil and demonstrate their knowledge and insight. What is the purpose, though, of the unveiling and the demonstrating? It is to open up the knowledge and insight for all to see. The buddhas have to continuously demonstrate their knowledge and insight to the sentient beings obstructed by ignorance so that such sentient beings can attain direct realization. Now, if this is the purpose of the unveiling and the demonstrating, we should first investigate: What knowledge and insight do all the buddhas acquire after attaining enlightenment? The simplest answer to this question is this: the true suchness (bhūta-tathatā) and the Buddha nature." Vol. 2, pp. 282-283