The three trainings in virtue, concentration, and wisdom enable a practitioner to suppress or abandon the different levels of defilements. But only the practice of vipassana mediation is able to completely uproot them.
Through practice we learn to relate with non-attachment to the condition of the body and mind as well as the conditions of our lives. We do this through the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, the cultivation of samadhi, and the gradual eroding of self-view. Then we are well-positioned for insight.