Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, Volume 34 (74)

Original text:谓若行境界。于能随顺上品猛利烦恼缠处。由失念故。暂起微劣诸烦恼缠。寻能作意。速疾除遣。唯一度来生此世间。便能究竟作苦边际。得不还果及不还相。如前已说。

Explanation: When a once-returner faces sense objects, in places where the very intense afflictive entanglements of the highest grade that accord with the desire realm can arise, if slight and weak afflictive entanglements arise due to a lapse of mindfulness, he can immediately direct his attention and swiftly dispel those afflictive entanglements. Afterward, when he comes to be reborn in this world, he will come only one more time, and he will be able to reach the ultimate end of suffering, attaining the fruit of non-return (Anāgāmin), along with the marks of non-return, as has been explained previously.

The afflictions eliminated by a stream-enterer upon seeing the path are the low-grade afflictions of the desire realm—the coarsest and heaviest among the afflictions of desire-realm beings, the afflictions possessed by humans and beings of the three evil destinies. Beings in the heavens do not have coarse and heavy afflictions; they have middle-grade and high-grade afflictions, and humans also have middle-grade and high-grade afflictions. If one does not delight in and does not accord with the afflictions of desire-realm beings, one can eliminate the middle-grade and high-grade afflictions of the desire realm and attain the fruit of once-return. By eliminating the high, middle, and low grades of afflictions of the desire realm, one can become far removed from desire-realm craving, give rise to the meditative concentration of the first dhyāna, and attain the fruit of non-return.

Therefore, a stream-enterer has realized the path of seeing, while the once-returner and the non-returner begin the path of cultivation. The afflictions eliminated on the path of cultivation are subtler and harder to eliminate than those of the stream-enterer, and once they are eliminated, wisdom advances. The path of cultivation from the first fruit to the fourth fruit is precisely the elimination of afflictions; the degrees of meditative concentration and afflictions are used to demarcate the stages of fruition and the levels of wisdom. Therefore, the ultimate and fundamental purpose of practicing the teachings is to eliminate afflictions and to purify bodily, verbal, and mental actions. If one does not do this and only values theory, it cannot be called cultivating the path.