Why is the Perfection of Patience not the Perfection of Patience?

Original text:何以故。须菩提。如我昔为歌利王割截身体。我于尔时。无我相。无人相。无众生相。无寿者相。何以故。我于往昔节节支解时。若有我相人相众生相寿者相。应生嗔恨。须菩提。又念过去于五百世作忍辱仙人。于尔所世。无我相。无人相。无众生相。无寿者相。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Subhūti, for example, in the past when King Kali dismembered my body, at that time within my mind there was no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span. Why do I say there were none? Because when my body was being dismembered piece by piece in the past, if there had been the mark of self, the mark of a person, and the mark of a life span in my mind, I would have given rise to anger and resentment. Subhūti, I also recall that in the past, for five hundred lives, I was the Kṣānti Ṛṣi (the patient ascetic), and during those five hundred lives, within my mind there was no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span.

When the World-Honored One had His body dismembered by King Kali in the past, because there was no mark of self, no mark of a person, and no mark of sentient beings in His mind, He did not give rise to anger and resentment toward King Kali. If the World-Honored One had had the mark of self, He would have felt that "my body is being dismembered, I am in great pain," and because of the pain, He would have given rise to anger and resentment. If the World-Honored One had had the mark of a person and the mark of sentient beings, He would have felt that King Kali ordered his attendants to dismember and damage my body, causing painful contact to my body, and He would have given rise to anger and resentment toward King Kali and his attendants. But the World-Honored One at that time truly had no mark of self, no mark of a person, and no mark of sentient beings; even though King Kali dismembered His body piece by piece, the World-Honored One did not give rise to any anger or resentment. On the surface, it appears that the World-Honored One was cultivating the practice of forbearance and possessed the pāramitā of forbearance, but in reality the World-Honored One was not practicing forbearance, because there were no marks in the World-Honored One's mind, so He did not feel humiliated, and there was no need to forbear; thus there was no forbearance, and no pāramitā of forbearance.

The World-Honored One was also the Kṣānti Ṛṣī for five hundred lives in the past, specifically cultivating the pāramitā of forbearance, yet because the World-Honored One had no mark of self, no mark of a person, and no mark of sentient beings, He did not feel humiliated, and thus did not feel there was anything to forbear; the pāramitā of forbearance had no mark of forbearance. The World-Honored One's pāramitā of forbearance is not the pāramitā of forbearance. If the World-Honored One had had these marks in His mind, He would have needed forbearance, and there would have been the pāramitā of forbearance. Therefore, the so-called pāramitā of forbearance is not the pāramitā of forbearance; this is the realm of one who has completed the practice of forbearance. For one who has not yet completed the practice of forbearance, there is the mark of forbearance, and there may also be the pāramitā of forbearance.

Likewise, for one who cultivates the pāramitā of generosity (dāna), if there is no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span in the mind, not feeling that "I am giving," and not dwelling on to whom I gave generosity and what money or items I gave, then there is no mark of giving, and there will be no pāramitā of giving; the mind is empty, pure, and vast, without obstruction, and the merit attained is the most vast, immeasurable and boundless. For one who upholds the precepts, if there is no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span in the mind, then there is no mark of "I am upholding the precepts," and no mark of the precepts being upheld; then there is no mark of the pāramitā of precept-keeping, and no precepts to observe and uphold—only this is true upholding of the precepts, without burden, with the mind empty and unobstructed. The same applies to cultivating the pāramitā of diligence, the pāramitā of meditative concentration (dhyāna), and the pāramitā of wisdom: with no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span, there is no mark of the pāramitā of diligence, no mark of the pāramitā of meditative concentration, no mark of the pāramitā of wisdom, and no mark of cultivation—only this is true diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom.