​     Though Ananda heard these words of Dharma, he did not understand them. He bowed his head and said respectfully to the Buddha, “How can it be that nothing more than the six faculties binds us to the cycle of death and rebirth while at the same time they cause us to gain wondrous and everlasting bliss?” 

    The Buddha said to Ananda, “The faculties and their objects come from the same source. What binds and what unbinds are one and the same. The consciousnesses are by nature illusory, like flowers seen in the sky. 

    In response to objects, Ananda, there is perception, and in response to the faculties there are objects. Neither the objects nor perceptions of them have an essential nature; they are dependent on each other, like intertwining reeds. 

    Know, therefore, that the establishment of perceived objects such that they exist separately within your awareness is the foundation of ignorance. When objects are not perceived as separate from awareness, that itself is nirvana, which is the true purity, free of outflows. Why would you allow anything else to be added to it?” 

    Then the World-Honored One, wishing to restate these principles, spoke these verses:

         “In our true nature, all conditioned things are seen as empty; 
    That which arises from conditions is illusory. 
    That which is unconditioned is not born, nor does it perish; 
    It too has no reality, like flowers in the sky.” 

        “Though we use words to try to speak the truth, all words are false, 
    Not only words that aim at truth, but false words — all are false. 
    Both that which is called ‘true’ and that which is called ‘false’ are false, 
    How can there be, therefore, observer and what is observed?” 

    “In the perceiver and perceived, there's nothing that is real; 
    They are like vines that only stand by twisting round each other. 
    Entanglement and liberation share a common basis; 
    The Path of Sages and of common folk is one path only.” 

        “You should consider now these vines that twist around each other. 
    The vines have no existence, yet they do not lack existence. 
    The darkness of confusion is our basic ignorance; 
    The light of understanding brings about our liberation.” 

        “A knot must be untied according to a certain sequence, 
    And when the six have been untied, the one will vanish too. 
    Choose one perceiving faculty and realize your breakthrough. 
    Enter the current. Realize the true enlightenment.” 

        “From subtle adana, the storehouse-consciousness,  
    The energy of habits can burst forth into a torrent. 
    Lest you confuse the true with what's untrue, I rarely speak of this.” 

        “But when your mind grasps hold of your own mind, what's not illusion 
    Then becomes illusory. And if you don't grasp hold, 
    Then what is called ‘illusion’ and ‘what's not illusion’ too 
    Will not arise.    How could what is illusion be established?”

    Hua, Hsuan (2012-08-06). The Surangama Sutra - A New Translation with Excerpts from the Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua (Kindle Locations 3597-3619). Buddhist Text Translation Society. Kindle Edition.