Why is the Perfection of Forbearance not the Perfection of Forbearance?

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 Kaliṅga dismembered my body, at that time there was in my mind 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 of these? Because when I was being dismembered piece by piece in the past, if there had been in my mind the mark of self, the mark of a person, and the mark of a life span, anger and resentment would have arisen. Subhūti, I also recall that in the past, for five hundred lives, I was the Kṣānti ṛṣi (the patient ascetic). Throughout those lives, there was in my mind 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 Kaliṅga in the past, because there was in His mind no mark of self, no mark of a person, and no mark of sentient beings, no anger or resentment toward King Kaliṅga arose. If the World-Honored One had had the mark of self, He would have felt that He was being dismembered and that He was in great pain, and because of the pain, anger would have arisen. If the World-Honored One had had the mark of a person and the mark of sentient beings, He would have felt that King Kaliṅga had ordered his attendants to dismember and damage His body, causing painful contact to His body, and He would have generated anger toward King Kaliṅga 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 Kaliṅga had His body dismembered piece by piece, the World-Honored One did not give rise to any anger. On the surface, it appears that the World-Honored One was cultivating the practice of patience and possessed the pāramitā of patience; in reality, the World-Honored One was not practicing patience at all, because there were no marks in the World-Honored One's mind, and thus He did not feel humiliated, nor was there any need to endure. Therefore there was no patience, and no pāramitā of patience.

The World-Honored One, in five hundred past lives, was also the Kṣānti ṛṣī, specifically cultivating the pāramitā of patience. 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 there was any humiliation, and thus did not feel there was anything to endure. The pāramitā of patience had no mark of patience; the World-Honored One's pāramitā of patience is not the pāramitā of patience. If there had been these marks in the World-Honored One's mind, then patience would have been needed, and there would have been the pāramitā of patience. Therefore, the so-called pāramitā of patience is not the pāramitā of patience. This is the realm of one who has accomplished the practice of patience. For one who has not yet accomplished the practice of patience, there is the mark of patience, and there may also be the pāramitā of patience.

Likewise, for one who cultivates the pāramitā of generosity, if there is in the mind no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span, and one does not feel that "I am giving," and does not dwell on to whom I gave and what wealth and items I gave, then there is no mark of giving, and there is also no pāramitā of giving. The mind is empty, pure, and vast, without obstruction, and the merit attained is the most vast, immeasurable and boundless. If one who upholds the precepts has 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. When there are no precepts to be kept or held, that is true upholding of the precepts—without burden, 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 then is it true diligence, true meditative concentration, and true wisdom.