More impure than all impurities is ignorance, the supreme impurity. Having abandoned this impurity, be pure, monks.

Tato malā malataraṃ — more impure than all impurities: malatara is the comparative of mala — more impure than the impure. Ignorance surpasses all other impurities in impurity.

Avijjā paramaṃ malaṃ — ignorance is the supreme impurity: avijjā (ignorance, non-knowledge) is identified as the root of all other impurities. Not intellectual ignorance but ignorance of the nature of reality — the Four Noble Truths, the three marks of existence.

Etaṃ malaṃ pahantvāna nimmalā hotha bhikkhavo — having abandoned this impurity, be pure, monks: nimmala is without impurity, pure. The path to purity passes through the elimination of fundamental ignorance.

The hierarchy is clear: ignorance is the supreme impurity because it is the source of all others. Greed, aversion, pride, anger — all arise from ignorance. Eliminate ignorance and you eliminate the root of the tree.