Eradicating Self-Grasping and Dharma-Grasping

Self-grasping (ātma-grāha) is the clinging attachment to the self of the five aggregates that one cannot let go of. When the view of self is eradicated, one attains liberation, no longer bound by the five aggregates, no longer bound by the eighteen realms, and no longer bound by any dharma in the world of the three realms; with wisdom one can transcend the three realms — this is the realm of the arhat of the fourth fruit. After they have eradicated self-grasping, they no longer cling to the self of the five aggregates, and when their lifespan ends they can extinguish themselves and enter Nirvāṇa without remainder.

Dharma-grasping, also called the grasping of a self in dharmas (dharma-ātma-grāha), is the attachment to the notion that there is a self, or that something belongs to a self, among all the dharmas derived from the combination of the aggregates, sense bases, and realms. Each time a bodhisattva on the bhūmis cultivates one portion of the patience with the non-arising of dharmas, he realizes one portion of the selflessness of dharmas and eradicates one portion of dharma-grasping. Because bodhisattvas on the bhūmis need to retain delusions to sustain rebirth and keep their five-aggregate bodies, they deliberately do not completely eradicate self-grasping, but instead begin to eradicate dharma-grasping, realizing that there is no self and no possession of self in all the dharmas that arise from the combination of the aggregates, sense bases, and realms. When dharma-grasping is completely eradicated, they perfectly attain buddhahood.