When Can Afflictions Finally Be Eliminated

As for these matters of afflictions, only after attaining the fruits of realization—when first dhyāna concentration arises and one becomes a third-fruit noble one (Anāgāmin)—can subtle afflictions be eliminated: first eliminating greed and desire, then eliminating anger and resentment, and at the fourth fruit, eliminating self-grasping and self-conceit. Those of the first and second fruits merely subdue afflictions; coarse afflictions do not manifest, but subtle afflictions may occasionally still appear. At the stage of ordinary beings (pṛthagjana) before the elimination of self-view (ātma-dṛṣṭi), one can only suppress afflictions, and sometimes even suppression fails. Those who possess meditative concentration of the first dhyāna and above can also suppress and subdue afflictions, but they cannot eliminate them. Although the afflictions of a fourth-fruit arhat have been eliminated, habitual tendencies (vāsanā) may occasionally still manifest—sometimes beyond control, and sometimes without his own awareness, requiring reminders from others.