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