Surangama Sutra Exposition
by Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Sheng-Yen Lu
Sentient beings perceive only superficial phenomena—what they see, hear, feel, think, and so on, and cannot see the truth beneath them. Deluded by these phenomena, they become confused and chaotic, creating further confusion and chaos.
“What do you think? When the first knot was tied, it was called the first. In the same way, the sixth knot eventually came into being. Could I now take the sixth knot and call it the first?”
“No, World-Honored One. As long as the six knots remain, the sixth will always be called the sixth and can never be the first. Even if I were to exhaust all my eloquence throughout many lifetimes, how could I confuse the names of these six knots?”
The Buddha said:
“So it is. Although the six knots are different, when their original cause is traced, they were all formed from the same cloth. Yet it is ultimately impossible to confuse one knot with another.
“Your six roots are the same. Within what is ultimately one and the same, six ultimately distinct functions arise.”
The Buddha said to Ananda:
“You surely dislike the existence of these six knots and wish them to become one again. How, then, can this be accomplished?”
Ananda said:
“As long as these knots remain, distinctions between right and wrong arise. Within them, one naturally considers this knot not to be that knot, and that knot not to be this one.
“If the Tathagata were now to untie them all, and no knots remained, there would no longer be any distinction between this and that. Even the name ‘one’ would not exist. How, then, could there be six?”
The Buddha said:
“The meaning of ‘when the six are untied, the one also vanishes’ is just like this.
“Since beginningless time, the nature of your mind has been confused and disturbed, giving rise to false knowing and seeing. As these delusions continue without cease, wearied perception gives rise to perceived phenomena.
“It is like eyes strained by fatigue, which see illusory flowers. Within the clear, pure, and luminous awareness, they arise chaotically without any cause.
“All the mountains, rivers, and great earth of the world, as well as birth and death and nirvana, are nothing but inverted appearances, like illusory flowers arising from confusion and strain.”
Ananda said:
“This strain is like a knot. How can it be untied?”
The Buddha explained that sentient beings only see the knots and cannot see the cloth from which they are made.
Ananda, still baffled by appearances, could not understand how the first knot could be the same as the sixth. When the six knots represent the six roots forming, each functions differently. He argued that distinctions must exist—the first knot is the first and cannot be the sixth. Yet when the six knots are gone, neither one nor six has any meaning.
The Buddha emphasized that this is the meaning of the phrase: “when the six are untied, the one also vanishes.”
Sentient beings are misled by superficial phenomena, giving rise to deluded thoughts. Inverted thinking, due the six roots, leads to further confusion in an endless vicious cycle. They cannot understand anything beyond what they can see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think, feel, perceive, or imagine. They cannot see the non-arising and non-ceasing ultimate truth beneath.
But Sakyamuni Buddha can, and so can Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Jesus, who fearlessly sacrificed himself and could communicate with God and the Holy Spirit. Grandmaster can too, and he knows who is who in this and past lifetimes. He added that spiritual cultivation can open up memories of past lives. Meeting one another means that we have affinity—we were not strangers in past lives. In fact, we are all of one body, so harming another is the same as harming oneself.
A master asked whether knowing past lives might create confusion. Grandmaster replied that such knowledge can serve as a warning: continue what was good and transform what was bad. First, accept, forgive, and embrace; then help, give, transform, and deliver. It is a good opportunity to sacrifice oneself and perform good deeds. This is especially true when dealing with karmic creditors and enemies. One cannot retaliate, as doing so would create karma again. Difficult as it may be, restraint creates merit. Only then can it be called spiritual cultivation.
There are many examples of such topsy turvy phenomena. Look at the Earth: there are earthquakes, floods, fires, and so on. Look at humanity and the world! Everything is topsy turvy and chaotic. What we see, hear, or think is ever-changing—this today and that tomorrow. These are all knots, tightly tied, and difficult to loosen.
Ananda wanted to eliminate the knots but did not know how, so he asked the Buddha to elucidate the methods on our behalf.