Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and the start of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping the Sutra.

Senchu Murano’s footnote for the title of Chapter 12 says, “This chapter was not translated by Kumārajīva. It was inserted into Kumārajīva’s version.”

But I still believe:

“Good men or women in the future who hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters. They will always hear this sūtra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures. When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.”

Back on Day 10, I commented: Becoming a Buddha at the time the Lotus Sutra was preached was no mean feat. On Day 17, I appreciate Śāriputra’s doubts about the daughter of the dragon-king quickly becoming a Buddha:

“You think that you will be able to attain unsurpassed enlightenment [and become a Buddha] before long. This is difficult to believe because the body of a woman is too defiled to be a recipient of the teachings of the Buddha. How can you attain unsurpassed Bodhi? The enlightenment of the Buddha is far off. It can be attained only by those who perform the [Bodhisattva] practices with strenuous efforts for innumerable kalpas. A woman has five impossibilities. She cannot become 1. the Brahman-Heavenly-King, 2. King Śakra, 3. King Māra, 4. a wheel-turning-holy-king, and 5. a Buddha. How can it be that you, being a woman, will become a Buddha, quickly [or not]?”

And after the daughter of the dragon-king quickly became a Buddha:

The Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva, Śāriputra, and all the other living beings in the congregation received the Dharma faithfully and in silence.

No singing. No dancing. Just “faithfully and in silence.”