Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

If anything will challenge my effort this time through to limit my quotes to the single aspect that strikes me as most important or interesting today, it is Chapter 2, Expedients. There’s just too much good stuff.

The concept that “the wisdom of the Buddha” is too difficult to understand by pure intellect only raises the question, “Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients?” And those two things bring us to what is, in my mind today, the most important aspect of this teaching: The One Great Purpose.

Sariputra! What is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds? The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Sariputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.

The Buddha said to Sariputra:

The Buddhas, the Tathagatas, teach only Bodhisattvas. All they do is for one purpose, that is, to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings, to cause them to obtain the insight of the Buddha.

Today’s Daily Dharma had an interesting explanation for why we should not be embarrassed to ask questions:

When we allow ourselves to wonder, to question, to become aware of the mystery of existence, and resist being ashamed of not knowing, then we are coming to understand the Buddha’s own mind.