How to Untie the Six Knots
Ananda put his palms together, prostrated and then said, “Today I have received the Buddha’s most compassionate teaching on the pure, subtle and everlasting Truth, but I still don’t know how to untie the six knots and how to attain the state where ‘Once the six are untied, the one will vanish as well’. I only hope the Buddha will take pity on us again and bestow upon us words of Dharma to clear away our impurities.”
Sitting on the Lion Throne, the Buddha adjusted his clothing and reached over to the teapoy to pick up an exquisite scarf gifted by a god from the Heaven of Self-Restraint. He then tied a knot in the scarf and showed it to Ananda, asking, “What is this?” Ananda and the rest of the assembly all replied, “It is a knot.”
The Buddha then tied another knot and asked again, everyone replied, “It is another knot.” The Buddha tied four more knots and each time asked again what it was, and each time the answer was the same.
“When I first tied the scarf, you called it a knot,” The Buddha said, “but when I tied the second and third, why did you still call them knots? There is actually only one piece of scarf.” Ananda replied: “World Honored One, although there is only one single scarf, when you tie it once, it has one knot; if you tie it hundred times, it has a hundred knots. Now this scarf has six knots, since you only tied it six times. How come we can call the first tie a knot but cannot call the second and third knots?”
The Buddha said, “As you know, originally this precious scarf is a single strip of cloth. Tying it six times might have made six knots, but if you examine more carefully, you will see that in your answers you implied that, although the essential nature of the scarf remains the same, the knots have somehow changed it. The first knot I tied was called the first one, but do you think the sixth knot I tied can also be called the first knot?”
“No, World Honored One. As long as there are six knots, the last one is the sixth and cannot be called the first. Even if I am to spend the rest of my life debating this, nothing would lead me to number these six knots in the wrong order.”
The Buddha said, “It is so. These six knots are all different, you cannot confuse their order, even though they’re created out of one single scarf. The same may be said of your six sense organs – originally they came from the same source, but in eventuality they manifest and function differently. Ananda, now how would you untie the knots, since you seem displeased by them and prefer it to be one single piece of cloth again.”
Ananda said, “As long as these knots remain, concepts of right and wrong will arise and stir – there will be endless arguments about which one is or is not which. If all the knots were untied, there would be no more distinctions – for in the absence of even one, how could there be six?”
The Buddha said, “For the same reason, once the six are untied, the one will vanish too. Since beginningless time, due to the accumulated confusion in your mind, your awareness has become distorted, and the distortions keep getting worse and worse over time. The strain on the awareness disturbs your seeing, causing it to perceive objects in the same way that troubled eyes see dancing flowers in air. Amidst the clarity of enlightened understanding, illusion arises for no good reason. All the worldly phenomena, such as mountains and rivers, birth and death, samsara and nirvana, are all but dancing flowers created by mental unrest and distress.”
Ananda asked, “How can one untie these knots created by such unrest and distress then?”
The Buddha picked up the knotted scarf, tugged at its left end, and asked, “Can it be untied in this way?” Ananda replied, “No it can’t, World Honored One.” The Buddha then tugged at the right end and asked again, “Can it be untied in this way?” Ananda replied, “No, it can’t, World Honored One.” The Buddha said, “I have tried both ends of the scarf, and the knots can’t be untied either way. What would you do then?”
Ananda replied respectfully to the Buddha, “World Honored One, a knot should be untied within its center.”
The Buddha said, “Exactly. A knot should be untied from its heart. Ananda, the Buddha Dharma manifests due to causes and conditions, but the Dharma is beyond the coarse attributes that arise from worldly concepts of mixtures and unions. As the Buddha explains the mundane and world-transcending phenomena, He knows their fundamental causes and conditions, to the extent that He is perfectly clear about the number of raindrops in a place extremely faraway from here. He understands the fundamental reasons for every sort of phenomenon: why pines are straight, why brambles bend, why geese are white and crows black. Therefore, Ananda, carefully choose one faculty from the six sense organs and work at it. If you can untie the knot of that faculty, all objects of sense will vanish, and all delusion will disappear. Once the false is gone, naturally only the true is left.
“Ananda, now tell me: can we untie the six knots in this scarf all at the same time?”
“No, World Honored One. The knots were tied in sequence, so now they must be untied in sequence. Although the six knots are in the same scarf, they were not tied simultaneously in the first place, so they cannot be untied all at the same time.”
The Buddha said, “The same applies to freeing the knots of the six senses. In the first stage, one will realize that the self is empty. Once the emptiness is fully understood, one becomes free of attachment to phenomena. When one is disengaged from attachment, both self and phenomena will vanish. This is called the Patient Endurance of the Nonbirth, achieved by means of Samādhi in the Bodhisattva stage, in which no mental activities arise, and no mental objects come into being.”
阿难合掌。顶礼白佛。我今闻佛无遮大悲。性净妙常真实法句。心犹未达六解一亡。舒结伦次。惟垂大慈。再愍斯会。及与将来。施以法音。洗涤沉垢。
即时。如来于狮子座。整涅槃僧。敛僧伽黎。览七宝机。引手于机。取劫波罗天所奉花巾。于大众前。绾成一结。示阿难言。此名何等。阿难大众俱白佛言。此名为结。于是如来绾叠花巾。又成一结。重问阿难。此名何等。阿难大众又白佛言。此亦名结。如是伦次绾叠花巾。总成六结。一一结成。皆取手中所成之结。持问阿难。此名何等。阿难大众。亦复如是。次第酬佛。此名为结。
佛告阿难。我初绾巾。汝名为结。此叠花巾。先实一条。第二第三。云何汝曹复名为结。阿难白佛言。世尊。此宝叠花缉绩成巾。虽本一体。如我思惟。如来一绾。得一结名。若百绾成。终名百结。何况此巾只有六结。终不至七。亦不停五。云何如来只许初时。第二第三。不名为结。
佛告阿难。此宝花巾。汝知此巾元止一条。我六绾时。名有六结。汝审观察。巾体是同。因结有异。于意云何。初绾结成。名为第一。如是乃至第六结生。吾今欲将第六结名。成第一否。否也。世尊。六结若存。斯第六名。终非第一。纵我历生尽其明辩。如何令是六结乱名。
佛言。六结不同。循顾本因。一巾所造。令其杂乱。终不得成。则汝六根。亦复如是。毕竟同中。生毕竟异。佛告阿难。汝必嫌此六结不成。愿乐一成。复云何得。阿难言。此结若存。是非锋起。于中自生此结非彼。彼结非此。如来今日若总解除。结若不生。则无彼此。尚不名一。六云何成。
佛言。六解一亡。亦复如是。由汝无始心性狂乱。知见妄发。发妄不息。劳见发尘。如劳目睛。则有狂花。于湛精明。无因乱起。一切世间。山河大地。生死涅槃。皆即狂劳。颠倒花相。阿难言。此劳同结。云何解除。
如来以手。将所结巾偏掣其左。问阿难言。如是解否。否也。世尊。旋复以手偏牵右边。又问阿难。如是解否。否也。世尊。佛告阿难。吾今以手左右各牵。竟不能解。汝设方便。云何成解。阿难白佛言。世尊。当于结心。解即分散。
佛告阿难。如是如是。若欲除结。当于结心。阿难。我说佛法。从因缘生。非取世间和合粗相。如来发明世出世法。知其本因。随所缘出。如是乃至恒沙界外一滴之雨。亦知头数。现前种种。松直棘曲。鹄白鸟玄。皆了元由。是故。阿难。随汝心中选择六根。根结若除。尘相自灭。诸妄销亡。不真何待。阿难。吾今问汝。此劫波罗巾六结现前。同时解萦。得同除否。否也。世尊。是结本以次第绾生。今日当须次第而解。六结同体。结不同时。则结解时。云何同除。
佛言。六根解除。亦复如是。此根初解。先得人空。空性圆明。成法解脱。解脱法已。俱空不生。是名菩萨从三摩地。得无生忍。
Buddha Mind 