When Can Emotional Attachments Be Severed?

First, one must clearly understand the view of self concerning the body (satkāya-dṛṣṭi) and eradicate it, and then break and eliminate the grasping at self. Emotional attachment is gradually eliminated only after the grasping at self, and it is extremely difficult. First there is sensual desire, and afterward emotional attachment arises; sensual desire is completely eradicated at the third fruit (anāgāmin), but emotional attachment can only be fully eliminated between the first and the second immeasurable kalpas. This is because desire is relatively coarse and easy to eliminate, whereas emotional attachment is very subtle and especially hard to sever.