The Related Suttas Collection 7.6

1. The Perfected Ones

With Bhāradvāja of the Matted Hair

At Sāvatthī.

Then the brahmin Bhāradvāja of the Matted Hair went up to the Buddha, and exchanged greetings with him.

When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side, and addressed the Buddha in verse:

“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 bhikkhu—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.

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.”

When he had spoken, Bhāradvāja of the Matted Hair said to the Buddha, “Excellent, Master Gotama! …” … And Venerable Bhāradvāja became one of the perfected.