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

Having last month considered Mañjuśrī and his efforts in the palace of Dragon-King Sagara, we hear Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva ask whether anyone taught by Mañjuśrī is qualified to become a Buddha quickly.

Thereupon Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva praised him with gāthās:

Possessor of Great Wisdom and Virtue!
You were brave in saving innumerable living beings.
This great congregation and I understand
That you expounded
The truth of the reality of all things,
Revealed the teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led those innumerable living beings
[Into the Way] to Bodhi quickly.

Mañjuśrī said, “In the sea I expounded only the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

Accumulated-Wisdom asked Mañjuśrī:

“The sūtra is exceedingly profound and wonderful. This is the treasure of all the sūtras. It is rare in the world. Do you know anyone who acted according to this sūtra so strenuously that he has already been qualified to become a Buddha quickly?”

Pausing before we get to the meat of this tale – the prejudice against women and the universality of Buddha nature – I want to underscore that Mañjuśrī expounded only the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. That’s very rare. Consider Chapter 3’s revelation that Śāriputra will eventually become a Buddha called Flower-Light in a world “even, pure, adorned, peaceful, and fertile, where gods and men will prosper.” What will that Buddha teach? “Flower-Light Tathāgata will also lead the living beings [of his world] by the teaching of the Three Vehicles.” This remains a puzzle to me.