What do the coarse afflictions eradicated by the first fruit refer to?

A thing has coarse marks and subtle marks. The coarse marks are relatively obvious and conspicuous, visible and perceptible at a glance, while the subtle marks manifest after the coarse marks, are not easy to distinguish, and require careful and attentive observation to be seen and perceived. Likewise, a dharma is divided into coarse and subtle parts, and even the conscious mind is divided into coarse and subtle.

Since afflictions are dharmas, and moreover mental dharmas, they are also divided into coarse and subtle. Coarse afflictions refer to dausthulya afflictions; dausthulya afflictions refer to the relatively obvious parts, the contents that are easy to become aware of. "Heavy" means severe. Obvious and coarse afflictions are necessarily relatively severe afflictions, or very heavy afflictions—the parts that everyone can see and perceive, that should not exist, that are not accepted or tolerated by worldly people, and that are the afflictions which should be eradicated first. Since even worldly people cannot accept these dausthulya afflictions, in the sphere of spiritual cultivation, and especially in the realm of sages and saints, they are even less permitted to exist and manifest.

Greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, doubt, and wrong views—these six root afflictions—each is divided into two major parts, coarse and subtle, and among them the subtle afflictions can be further subdivided. Coarse and subtle are spoken of relatively: after removing the coarsest part, the subtle part is also divided into coarse and subtle, and so on, subdividing continuously, until finally reaching afflictions that can no longer be divided—the most subtle, extremely subtle afflictions. These afflictions ordinary beings simply cannot discover or distinguish; even bodhisattvas at several bhūmis probably cannot discover or distinguish them; only bodhisattvas at the eighth bhūmi and above can eradicate them. As for somewhat subtler afflictions, ordinary beings, lacking wisdom and not having eradicated them themselves, cannot discover or distinguish them; even those who have newly attained fruition and seen the mind cannot distinguish them, because their experience and wisdom are insufficient.

All afflictions can be roughly divided into three grades—high, middle, and low—and each grade can be further divided into high, middle, and low. High-grade afflictions are relatively obvious, conspicuous, and severe; they are the ones that should be eradicated first and should least exist; they are called dausthulya afflictions. These are what should be eradicated during the practice of the Four Noble Truths, at the stage of entering the first fruit. Only when the dausthulya high-grade afflictions have been eradicated is there the opportunity to become a srotāpanna-ānuloma (one bound for the first fruit); otherwise one cannot even attain the stage of entering the first fruit, let alone the first through fourth fruits.

For example, the affliction of greed can be divided into nine grades of coarse and subtle, and if further subdivided, it can be divided again. The coarsest part of greed is extremely severe, or relatively severe; ordinary people can see it and perceive it and cannot tolerate it—such greed should not exist. If it still exists, then one is an ordinary being with heavy afflictions. For example, great greed for money and wealth, great greed for sexual desire and romantic feelings, great greed for the physical body, great greed for fame, praise, and gain, and so on—there is no end to the aspects in all directions. The other afflictions are the same: the severe and obvious parts all belong to dausthulya afflictions, and all must be eradicated at the time of the first fruit or the stage of entering the first fruit.

If a person claims to have attained fruition, to have seen the mind and seen the nature, yet his afflictions are still very heavy, still very obvious, easily discovered by others, and unacceptable to people, then we can judge that this person has committed grave false speech. Although this person may have theory after theory, speaking the Dharma with a torrent of eloquence and flowery words, based on the afflictions manifested in his bodily, verbal, and mental actions, we can conclude that he is an ordinary being. Pay no attention to his eloquence and theoretical level; theoretical knowledge does not represent actual realization.

If a person says, "I have attained such-and-such a fruition," and tells it to others, and if others harbor doubt, he becomes very afflicted, gives rise to hatred, becomes angry at them, reviles and retaliates against them, and forms bad karmic ties with them—then it can be concluded that this person has not attained anything at all, because his afflictions are too coarse and heavy, even exceeding those of an ordinary ordinary being. Those who rely on the dharma they have learned to look down on the multitude, to slander and attack the multitude, and to bully the weak by relying on their strength can basically be concluded to be ordinary beings with dausthulya afflictions.