Slain
A short exchange in verse at Sāvatthī. A deity asks the Buddha what must be slain for one to sleep at ease and be free of sorrow, and what single thing he approves of killing. The Buddha answers that it is anger: when anger is slain one sleeps at ease and there is no sorrow. He adds that anger has a poisonous root and a sweet tip, and that the noble ones praise its killing. The same verses appear in SN 7.1, where they are spoken to an angry brahmin.
A note on this text. A deity is the questioner, and the language of “slaying” and “killing” is a metaphor for giving up anger.
The full text
Linked Discourses 1.71 · 8. Slain · Slain · translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · public domain (CC0) · about 1 min · on SuttaCentral
At Sāvatthī.Standing to one side, that deity addressed the Buddha in verse:
“When what is slain do you sleep at ease?When what is slain is there no sorrow?What is the one thing, Gotama,whose killing you approve?”
“When anger’s slain you sleep at ease.When anger’s slain there is no sorrow.Anger has a poisonous rootand a sweet tip, O deity.The noble ones praise its killing,for when it’s slain there is no sorrow.”