Diamond Sutra Commentary: Why Is the Perfection of Patience Not the Perfection of Patience?

Original text of Section Fourteen, Aparimita Nirvāṇa through Freedom from Marks: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: Why is the pāramitā of kṣānti (forbearance) not the pāramitā of kṣānti? Subhūti, for example, when in the past my body was dismembered by King Kali, at that time there was within my mind no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span. Why is it said that there were none? Because when my body was being dismembered piece by piece in the past, if there had been in my mind the marks of self, person, sentient beings, and life span, I would have given rise to anger and resentment. Subhūti, I also recall that in the past, for five hundred lifetimes, I was the Kṣānti Ṛṣi (the ascetic of forbearance), and in all those lifetimes there was within 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 Kali in the past, because His mind held no mark of self, no mark of a person, and no mark of sentient beings, He did not give rise to resentment toward King Kali. If the World-Honored One had had a mark of self, He would have felt that He was being dismembered and that He was in great pain, and because of the pain He would have given rise to anger. If the World-Honored One had had the marks of a person and of sentient beings, He would have felt that King Kali had ordered his attendants to dismember and damage His body, causing painful sensations in His body, and He would have given rise to 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 resentment. On the surface it appears that the World-Honored One was practicing the conduct of forbearance and had the pāramitā of kṣānti, but in fact the World-Honored One was not practicing forbearance, because there were no marks in the World-Honored One's mind, and thus He did not feel humiliated, nor did He need to endure anything. Then there was no forbearance, and no pāramitā of kṣānti.

The World-Honored One was the Kṣānti Ṛṣī for five hundred lifetimes in the past, specifically cultivating the pāramitā of kṣānti; 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 endure. The pāramitā of kṣānti had no mark of forbearance; the World-Honored One's pāramitā of kṣānti is therefore not the pāramitā of kṣānti. If the World-Honored One had had these marks in His mind, He would have needed forbearance, and there would have been a pāramitā of kṣānti. Therefore, the so-called pāramitā of kṣānti is not the pāramitā of kṣānti. This is the realm of one who has accomplished the conduct of forbearance; one who has not yet accomplished the conduct of forbearance has the mark of forbearance, and may also have the pāramitā of kṣānti.

Likewise, for one who cultivates the pāramitā of generosity (dāna), 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, one does not feel that "I am giving," and does not dwell on whom one has given to or what wealth and items one has given; then there is no mark of giving, and there will be no pāramitā of giving either. 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 in the mind no mark of self, no mark of a person, no mark of sentient beings, and no mark of a life span, 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 precepts, and no precepts to keep or hold—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 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 dhyāna, no mark of the pāramitā of wisdom, and no mark of cultivation—only this is true diligence, dhyāna, and wisdom.

Because of the realization of wisdom and meditative concentration, the World-Honored One had attained the exhaustion of the aggregate of feeling, so that His body could be without sensations of feeling; therefore, when His body was dismembered He felt no pain, and only thus could He endure having His limbs dismembered without fainting. If the World-Honored One had had the marks of a person and of sentient beings at that time, He would have been furious at King Kali, thinking that this person was humiliating Him, being cruel and tyrannical toward Him, and He would have given rise to resentment toward King Kali, and would have cursed King Kali, wanting to take revenge on King Kali and his men. If the World-Honored One had had the mark of a life span at that time, He would have risen up in resistance, stopping King Kali and the executioners from dismembering and destroying His body. Because the dismemberment of the body would portend imminent death, the disappearance of life, the ending of that lifetime's lifespan. Yet the World-Honored One at that time did not resist, nor did He give rise to resentment; this proves that the World-Honored One at that time was without the four marks.

At that time the World-Honored One was a bodhisattva free from the four marks, a bodhisattva cultivating the six pāramitās; He manifested as the Kṣānti Ṛṣi and cultivated the conduct of forbearance, and His cultivation free from the four marks had already lasted five hundred lifetimes.