Linked Discourses 1.23

1. A Sword

A Tangle

“Tangled within, tangled without:

these people are tangled in tangles.

I ask you this, Gotama:

who can untangle this tangle?”

“A wise person grounded in ethics,

developing the mind and wisdom,

a keen and alert mendicant—

they can untangle this tangle.

Those in whom greed, hate, and ignorance

have faded away;

the perfected ones with defilements ended—

they have untangled the tangle.

And where name and form

cease with no residue left behind;

and impingement and perception of form:

it’s here that the tangle is cut.”