No, enlightened beings don’t have beliefs. All beliefs are supported by emotion, that’s why it hurts to lose beliefs. Beliefs are, by definition, irrational and require no evidence. All emotions are irrational, too, beliefs and emotional needs go hand in hand. Which is why enlightenment is absolute rationality, absolute sanity, and very few people want that.

But it doesn’t mean the brain doesn’t operate. The brain is an organ to analyze the environment and make predictions. Predictions are based on observation. Prediction is not the same as belief, there’s no emotion in prediction. If I let go of an apple, it will fall. That’s a prediction, not a belief, it comes from observation. Beliefs, on the other hand, are instilled by society, not direct experience, and they are enforced through punishment. That’s the difference.

The difference may appear subtle, but it’s not. The emotional body makes all the difference. For example, I can freely say that I am well above average intelligence, and upon hearing it, a person who is awakened, but not enlightened yet, may point to it as an irrational belief based on arrogance. But it’s not a belief, it’s just an observation. It is based on how other people view me and my prior performance on abstract mental tasks, such as software engineering, which can be measured, same as height. It’s not how I view myself, because I don’t view myself. Which is why it’s not possible to offend me by calling me dumb. It’s not important to me. The most that can happen is that there’s going to be another observation that this person thinks I’m dumb, even though most people think I’m intelligent. It’s going to be a cold, unemotional observation also. And if most people start viewing me as dumb, I’m gonna start saying I’m dumb also. This will be true then, so there’s no problem, I am not in conflict with anybody. Intelligence has nothing to do with well-being, and neither does height.

So, I don’t see myself, but I see what’s out there, and I can make observations about what’s out there and express those observations using language. And that includes how other people see me as well. Beliefs, on the other hand, are all internal, they’re all about what you think of yourself, one way or another. That’s why beliefs are hard and painful to change, but observations are very easy to change.

Observations reflect external reality (“most people would consider me intelligent”), beliefs create internal reality which you then try to enforce upon other people (“I’m so intelligent, why don’t you acknowledge that?”). If you can test it, it’s an observation. If you can’t, it’s a belief. When someone challenges your observations, it can never arise an emotional response or defensiveness in you, because they’re based on what happened. When someone challenges your beliefs, it always does. If someone challenges your observation and it arises an emotional response in you, they are challenging a belief of yours also, which you are just not yet able to see (for example, “I am smart/developed/enlightened enough to have made this observation, and you’re not, so I believe it makes me better than you [arrogance] or I now need to change your mind to help you become like me [compassion]”).