But if again there be a man who hears this system of doctrine, and be neither affected by pride, or fear, or bewilderment, this man also, be it known, has attained the much desired condition before alluded to. What then, Subhúti? Tathágata declares that the first Páramitá (of charity) is no real Páramitá; this also is a mere name. And as to the Páramitá of Patience, Tathágata declares that this also is no Páramitá; it is but an empty name. What then, Subhúti? in old time, when I was King of Koli, and my body was cut up and mutilated (or when my body was mutilated by the King of Koli), I at that time was without either of these four distinctive qualities of individuality; and again, when I, in old time, was cut up piece by piece, limb by limb, if I then had possessed either of these four distinctive qualities, then surely I should have experienced some degree of anger or resentment. Subhúti, again when, in old time, five hundred generations since, I was the Rishi Kshánti (or a Rishi practising the Kshánti Páramitá), at that time I was not subject to either of these before-named distinctive qualities. Know this therefore, Subhúti, a Bodhisatwa ought to get rid of all these individual distinctions, and in aspiring after the unsurpassed, just, and enlightened heart, he ought to rely on no earth-born principle, he ought to rely on no disposition founded on either sound or odour or taste or touch or thought, he ought to depend only on having no dependence, for if the heart once learns to depend, then it has no real strength. Hence Buddha declares that the mind of the Bodhisatwa ought not to rely on any formal act of charity. Subhúti, the Bodhisatwa ought to distribute his almsgiving for the purpose of benefiting the whole mass of sentient creatures, and yet Tathágata declares that as all dependencies are after all no real subjects of dependence, so also he says that all sentient creatures are not in reality what they are called. Subhúti, Tathágata’s words are true words, real words, literal words, not wild or contradictory ones. Subhúti, the condition of Being to which Tathágata has attained, this condition is neither really capable of description, nor yet is it wholly unreal. Subhúti, if the heart of a Bodhisatwa rely upon any condition or active principle whatever in the discharge of his charitable labors, he is like a man entering into a dark place in which nothing can be seen, but if a Bodhisatwa do not rely on any active purpose whatever in the distribution of his alms, he is like a man with his eyes open, and the brightness of the sun around him, he sees clearly every form and every object. Subhúti, in future ages, if there be a disciple male or female, who is able to read through the whole, and accept and adopt the whole of this Sútra, he is then the same as Tathágata himself. Buddha, by his supreme wisdom, clearly knows and clearly sees that this man, arrived thus at complete perfection, derives boundless and immeasurable merit.