Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org

prejudices about things like killing, justice, etc. While it is
true that the receptive state of the brainwashed victim is
what allows such reprogramming, the problem is not
precisely in the brainwashed state itself. Nor is Buddhist
"brainwashing" susceptible to such reconditioning, since it is
based on rigorous investigation of the truth for oneself.
Classical brainwashing relies on the victim's emotional
dependence on affection, loyalty, patriotism, etc. to
convince them of something they would otherwise reject.
Truly "washing the brain", on the other hand, removes all
dependence on such emotional hooks, and so leaves one
impervious to any conditioning that could take advantage of
the "unprejudiced" state.
In a sense, we are indeed giving up even prejudices about
good and evil in our practice. The Buddha himself talked
about an enlightened being going beyond good and evil. To
just see things as they are, not having any expectations, to
not have any wants or needs and just take things as they
come, knowing them as they are, actually means going
beyond good and evil. This doesn't mean not being able to
tell the difference or of doing evil deeds without
compunction, since that would require ignorance; it means
not desiring to do either good or evil deeds, out of
knowledge that no true benefit can come from either.
An enlightened being will appear to be full of good deeds,
unflagging in their effort to work for the benefit of
themselves and other beings. On close inspection, however,
it is clear that they only act out of conformity to the truth,
having no expectations or desires for either positive or
negative results. They act solely based on what is
appropriate - what causes the least friction and stress, out of
pure wisdom and understanding that could not allow them to
act inappropriately, just as seeing the objects in a well-lit
room clearly would naturally prevent a person from bumping
into them.
You don't need anything special to become enlightened; you
don't need much knowledge or study. The study we need to
undertake is the study of ourselves, the study of good and
bad experience. We have to become purely objective,
rigorous in our examination of reality as it is, not as we
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