When Can Kleshas Be Severed?

Concerning these afflictions, only after attaining the fruit of enlightenment and the emergence of the first dhyāna, upon becoming a third-fruit sage, can one eradicate subtle afflictions—first eliminating greed, then eradicating hatred; the fourth fruit eliminates self-attachment and self-conceit. First-fruit and second-fruit practitioners merely subdue afflictions; coarse and heavy afflictions do not arise, but subtle afflictions may occasionally appear. In the ordinary state before severing the view of self, one can only suppress afflictions, sometimes failing even to suppress them. Those who possess the first dhyāna or higher meditative absorptions can also suppress and subdue afflictions, but they cannot eradicate them. Although the afflictions of a fourth-fruit Arhat are eradicated, habitual tendencies may still occasionally manifest, sometimes uncontrollably and sometimes without conscious awareness, requiring others to remind them.