Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month concluded Day 5, I return to the beginning of Chapter 3, A Parable.

Thereupon Sariputra, who felt like dancing with joy, stood up, joined his hands together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha:

Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing [with joy].

Whenever I read the opening of Chapter 3 I’m always reminded of Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

Chapter III opens with one of my favorite descriptions of how I think we should approach our practice and life in general. When we can face life with great joy, when we can feel like dancing, then I think we have completed most of the objective of our practice. Chapter II ends with the Buddha saying that when you have great joy this is when you will be a Buddha. Right away we are told Śāriputra has this feeling of joy so much that he felt like dancing.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

As a postscript I feel a need to confess only now realizing that for 10 months or so I’ve been copying and pasting the first line of Day 5 and repeating the error Day 5 begins Chapter 5, A Parable. I’ve gone back and changed all of the Chapter 5s to Chapter 3.