A person with complete Right Understanding is one who is free from ignorance, and by the nature of that enlightenment removes the roots of evil from his mind and becomes liberated. A lofty aim of a practising Buddhist is to cultivate Wisdom and gain Right Understanding about himself, life and all phenomena. When a person has Right Understanding, he or she develops Right Thought as well. It refers to the mental state which eliminates wrong ideas or notions and promotes the other moral factors to be directed to Nibbana . This factor serves a double purpose of eliminating evil thoughts and developing pure thoughts.
Thought is important because it is one ' s thoughts which either purify or defile a person.
There are three aspects to Right Thought. First, a person should maintaining an attitude of detachment from worldly pleasures rather than being selfishly attached to them. He should be selfless in his thoughts and think of the welfare of others. Third, he should act with thoughts of harmlessness or compassion to all beings, which is opposed to cruelty and lack of consideration for others. As a person progresses along the spiritual path, his thoughts will become increasingly benevolent, harmless, selfless, and filled with love and compassion.