sn.1.23 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)

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 nothing left over;
as well as impingement and perception of form:
it’s there that the tangle is cut.”