Deep Commentary

This verse reinforces the previous teachings on heedfulness. To be heedless is to lack moral discipline. To perfect one's virtue, the Buddha teaches that one must abide in perfect knowledge (Right Wisdom), distinguished from worldly or heretical knowledge which cannot resolve the suffering of birth and death. Perfect wisdom sees the illusory nature of all phenomena, freeing the mind from attachment and ending the cycle of rebirth. When one completely extinguishes defilements and abides in perfect wisdom, Mara (the embodiment of delusion and death) cannot find them. Conversely, living in heedlessness is akin to colluding with evil. Therefore, a practitioner must wield the sword of wisdom to sever the roots of defilement and never live heedlessly.