Explanation of the Diamond Sutra: Why is the Perfection of Forbearance Not the Perfection of Forbearance?

Original text of Chapter Fourteen, "Detachment from Marks and Utter Cessation":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, in the past when King Kaliṅga 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 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 lives, I was the Kṣānti Ṛṣi (the ṛṣi of forbearance), and in all those 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 Kaliṅga 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 Kaliṅga. 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 Kaliṅga had ordered his attendants to dismember and damage His body, causing painful contact to His body, and He would have given rise to resentment 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 resentment. On the surface, it appears that the World-Honored One was practicing the conduct of forbearance and possessed the pāramitā of kṣānti; in reality, the World-Honored One was not forbearing at all, because the World-Honored One's mind was without marks, and thus He did not feel humiliated and had no need to forbear. Therefore there was no forbearance, and no pāramitā of kṣānti.

The World-Honored One, in past lives over five hundred lifetimes, was the Kṣānti Ṛṣi,专门 practicing 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 forbear; the pāramitā of kṣānti had no mark of forbearance, and thus the World-Honored One's pāramitā of kṣānti was not the pāramitā of kṣānti. If the World-Honored One had had these marks in His mind, He would have needed to forbear, 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; for one who has not yet accomplished the conduct of forbearance, there is a mark of forbearance, and there may also be a pāramitā of kṣānti.

Likewise, for one practicing the pāramitā of generosity (dāna), if the mind holds 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 fret over to whom and 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 the mind holds 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 practicing the pāramitā of vigor, 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 vigor, no mark of the pāramitā of dhyāna, no mark of the pāramitā of wisdom, and no mark of cultivation—only this is true vigor, dhyāna, and wisdom.

Because of the realization of wisdom and meditative concentration, the World-Honored One had realized the exhaustion of the aggregate of feeling, and His body could be without feeling, so when His body was being dismembered He felt no pain, and only thus could He endure having His limbs dismembered without fainting. If the World-Honored One at that time had had the marks of a person and of sentient beings, He would have been furious at King Kaliṅga, considering that this person was humiliating Him, being cruel and tyrannical toward Him, and thus He would have given rise to resentment toward King Kaliṅga, and would have cursed King Kaliṅga and wanted to take revenge on King Kaliṅga and his men. If the World-Honored One at that time had had a mark of a life span, He would have risen up in resistance, stopping King Kaliṅga and the executioners from dismembering and destroying His body. Because dismemberment of the body presages imminent death, the disappearance of life, and the end of a single span of lifespan. Yet the World-Honored One at that time neither resisted nor gave 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 practiced the conduct of forbearance—His cultivation free from the four marks had already lasted five hundred lives.