The Gap Between Eliminating Self-View (ātma-dṛṣṭi) and Eliminating Self-Grasping

The initial fruit of eliminating the view of self and the fourth fruit of eliminating self-grasping are separated by a very, very great distance. The reason that self-grasping cannot be eliminated after the view of self has been eliminated is that the degree of the principle of no-self realized at the initial fruit is still shallow and its scope still narrow, so that the manas is unable to sever self-grasping in one sudden stroke. After attaining the initial fruit, one must continue the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) of the principle that the five aggregates (pañcaskandha) are without self, deepening the contemplation ever more thoroughly and realizing the principle of no-self ever more profoundly. When the first dhyāna concentration arises and afflictions are eliminated, self-grasping will grow ever fainter and attachments ever lighter, and self-grasping can soon be exhausted completely.

If there is the support of the fourth dhyāna concentration, then at the very moment of eliminating the view of self, self-grasping can be severed in one sudden stroke, because meditative concentration can subdue all afflictions; the attachment to the body is slight, and the only thing lacking is the wisdom that negates the five aggregates as self. Once one possesses the wisdom that the five aggregates are without self, self-grasping can be exhausted completely, and one becomes an arhat of the fourth fruit. This is exactly how the non-Buddhists (tīrthikas) during the Buddha's time were. If the view of self is thoroughly eliminated, then self-grasping is eliminated as well.