Today is the final day of Higan week, the three days before the equinox and the three days after. As explained in a Nichiren Shu brochure:

For Buddhists, this period is not just one characterized by days with almost equal portions of light and dark. Rather, it is a period in which we strive to consciously reflect upon ourselves and our deeds.

The today we consider the Perfection of Prajña. For this Fall Higan week I’m using Hsuan Hua‘s commentary on the Lotus Sutra in which he discusses the 10 advantages of each pāramitā.

There are ten advantages of practicing prajña. If you practice prajña, you’ll attain these ten advantages; otherwise, you won’t attain a single one.

Wisdom is basically not being attached. Not being attached is just wisdom. If you have attachment, you won’t have wisdom. The saying “Prajña-light constantly shines” means that the light of wisdom always shines.

1. One will not grasp at the notion of giving. In the twelve links of dependent arising, one link is “grasping, which is the condition for becoming.” If you have wisdom, you won’t grasp at the notion of giving. Grasping is being at-tached; not grasping is not being attached. One should give in such a manner that the nonsubstantiality of the three aspects of giving is empty. The three aspects are the giver, the receiver, and the gift. If you are caught up in your ability to give or in the person you are giving to, then you’re attached. Without the notions of there being one who gives, one to whom the gift is given, and the gift itself, there aren’t any attachments. It’s not that the notions don’t exist but that you’re not attached to them. This is what is meant by “one will not grasp at the notion of giving.”Why should you consider the nonsubstantiality of the three aspects of giving when you give? Because then you’ll be free of attachments. If you give thinking, “I’ve given several million dollars. How much merit do you think I have?” then you’re just like the Emperor Wu of Liang, who said to the Patriarch Bodhidharma, “I’ve built so many temples, renovated so many bridges, and influenced so many people to enter the monastic life. Would you say I have merit or not?”

   If the Patriarch Bodhidharma had said, “Yes, you do have merit,” he would’ve been following worldly thinking. Instead, the Patriarch taught the genuine Buddhadharma, which doesn’t accord with worldly sentiments. He said, “You have no merit!” He was trying to tell the emperor not to grasp at the notion of giving. With the notion of giving, you have attachments. Without it, there are no attachments. Without attachments, one’s merit is like empty space. Your merit fills empty space, but you mustn’t be attached.

2. One will not become bound up by the precepts. Someone may say, “Then let’s not take precepts. Let’s not cultivate according to the precepts.” Not being bound up is the same idea as not grasping, which is not to become attached to the precepts. Don’t think, “I uphold the precepts, so I have cultivation and understand the Buddhadharma.” You should refrain from having that kind of attachment. You should abide by the precepts without consciously upholding them. While upholding the precepts, you have no attachment to upholding them. This is what is meant by not being bound up by the precepts. Even if you uphold the precepts, you shouldn’t think, “I’m genuinely upholding precepts. I’m a Vinaya Master!” That’s just one more attachment; the notion of self has come into being. The purpose of the precepts is to transcend the conception of self. With a notion of self, you think, “I cultivate according to the precepts.” When the notion of self is absent, why would there be precepts? …
3. One will not become attached to the power of patience. This advantage also refers to being unattached. One is not attached to the notion of being patient. If one is attached to being patient, then one isn’t truly patient. True patience goes even beyond the concept of being patient. … Why do you have to think of it in terms of a self – “I” am patient? True cultivators of the Path must understand that all phenomena are empty of characteristics. If you can’t understand this concept, then you won’t be able to walk the Path.
4. One will be vigorous in body and mind. One will be vigorous not only in body but also in mind. One won’t be more vigorous in body than in mind or vice versa. One will be equally vigorous in both, but won’t be attached to the notion of vigor. One shouldn’t think, “I really work hard! I’m really vigorous!” If one who cultivates holds the idea of vigor, that’s not prajña vigor. With prajña vigor, one must be vigorous yet not consciously vigorous; not vigorous yet vigorous. That’s emptying all phenomena, detaching from all characteristics. Although you apply effort in cultivation, you need to transcend the notion of cultivation. You must subdue your mind yet remain separate from the notion of having subdued your mind. You must regulate your mind until it’s at peace and free of false thinking.
5. In dhyāna, one will abide nowhere. You probably expected the advantage of dhyāna, since the first is giving, the second upholding precepts, the third patience, and the fourth vigor; so certainly the fifth is dhyāna. So you don’t need the knowledge of others’ thoughts to know what I’m going to say; you just don’t know how I’m going to say it. When you investigate dhyāna, you should arrive at the state of abiding nowhere, which means you’ve broken all attachments. You don’t have any attachment to phenomena or to self; self and phenomena have both been emptied. Then you attain liberation. If you haven’t attained liberation, it’s because you still have attachments. Not abiding anywhere is prajña dhyāna.
6. Demons will not disturb one. If you have prajña, demons can’t get to you; if not, everything will fall apart when demons come. It’s analogous to the formation of an army. While you’re lining up your soldiers in formation, the enemy suddenly attacks. Since your army isn’t ready for battle, you don’t know what to do – whether to fight or retreat, whether to pull the trigger on the gun or hold your fire – and your army quickly falls into disarray and chaos. Likewise, if you become afraid and frantic when demons come, that’s a sign of lacking wisdom. If you have wisdom, no matter how great their spiritual powers are, demons won’t be able to disturb you.
7. Others’ opinions will not move one. If you don’t have genuine wisdom, then if someone says “east,” you’ll go east. If someone says “west,” you’ll go west. Someone may say, “Cultivating the Esoteric School is the best form of cultivation. Recite the name of Akṣobhya Buddha.” So you think, “It is, is it? Okay, I’ll do that. I’ll recite the name of Akṣobhya Buddha and subdue the demons.” Then someone else comes along and says, “The Pure Land School is the best. Reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha is the best form of cultivation in the Dharma-Ending Age.” So you think, “Really? Okay, I’ll do it.” And you’re swayed. Someone else may say, “Don’t bother learning how to lecture on the sūtras or teach the Dharma. Go off and live in a cave in the mountains. That’s real cultivation.” After you’ve spent two and a half days in the mountains, someone comes by and says, “Hey, the Vinaya School is the best,” and off you go to the Vinaya School. In general, you can’t focus on one school. You adopt others’ opinions of what’s good. You have no samādhi power. If the opinions of others cannot move you, that means you have samadhi power. …
8. One will reach the end of birth and death. The end is the termination of something, just like the bottom of the sea and the base of every container. What’s the end of birth and death? Nirvāṇ If you have wisdom, you can end the cycle of birth and death and arrive at the other shore – nirvāṇa. Arriving at the other shore is reaching the end of birth and death.
9. One will practice ever-increasing compassion. Previously, we talked about the five thousand people who left the Dharma Flower assembly because of their overbearing pride. Overbearing pride is quite the opposite of ever-increasing compassion. Ever-increasing compassion means that, although you may not have been very compassionate before, little by little, you gradually develop more and more compassion.
10. One will take no delight in the stage of the Two Vehicles. Instead, one will choose to firmly walk on the Great Vehicle Path. Why so? Because one has wisdom. Therefore, one turns from the Lesser to the Great, giving up the Lesser Vehicle and cultivating the Great Vehicle Dharma.