As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.
Translated by F., Max Muller
I suffer from circular thoughts, I think a lot of people do. They go round and round and round and I seem to have very little control over them. Eventually they run out of steam and dissipate but this can take days. So I wanted to know what the Buddha’s advice was. How would the Buddha advise his followers to deal with circular thoughts, or unhelpful thoughts generally? I posted a question on a forum and was directed to the Vitakkasanthana Sutta which I found very helpful
In the sutta the Buddha lists five ways to deal with unhelpful (unskillful) thoughts.
When a monk is intent on the heightened mind, there are five themes he should attend to at the appropriate times. Which five?
For each theme the Buddha illustrates it with some imagery which helps clarify and happily adds to the poetry of the sutta. The methods are to be tried in order. If the method doesn’t work then the disciple of the Buddha / frazzled office worker should go onto the next one.
Think about something more helpful
He should attend to another theme, apart from that one, connected with what is skillful.
We should attend to something more skillful. Another thought or reflection that is helpful to us, perhaps dwelling on a kind action that we benefitted from or maybe gratitide for all the good things in our lives. If this is strong enough it will drive out the negative thoughts. This is likened to …
[…] a skilled carpenter or his apprentice would use a small peg to knock out, drive out, and pull out a large one;
If reflecting on the wholesome doesn’t work then we move onto …
Consider the harm
he should scrutinize the drawbacks of those thoughts:
If we reflect then we will know that these negative thought patterns do us no good. Emotions like anger and righteous indignation may feel intoxicating but they are delusional and exhausting and utlimately harmful. Jealous thoughts and depressive thoughts don’t even feel good. If we truly come to know the harm done by our circular, negative thoughts then they will lose their power over us. We can see them for what they are. This is likened to
[…] a young woman — or man — fond of adornment, would be horrified, humiliated, and disgusted if the carcass of a snake or a dog or a human being were hung from her neck;
If reflecting on the harm done to us by our negative thoughts doesn’t work then we move onto to …
Disregard the thoughts
he should pay no mind and pay no attention to those thoughts
We can chose not to engage with our thoughts, to see them as nothing but ephemera drifting around our consciousness. They might feel painful and sticky but they are impermanent and insubstantial. They are not us. We can let them swirl around and ultimately drift out of our minds. The dark clouds of of negative thoughts will going the way of all clouds – they will float away. This is likened to …
[..] a man with good eyes, not wanting to see forms that had come into range, would close his eyes or look away;
If letting go of the thoughts doesn’t work then we move onto ….
Refine the thoughts
he should attend to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts.
Thought-fabrication is hard to unpack. This forum post is helpful and Soma Thera gives an alternate translation which again may help
he should reflect on the removal of the (thought) source of those unskillful thoughts.
We are invited to really consider the root of the thought and to understand where it is coming from. Can we see it as fabricated and unreal? Perhaps we are convinced we are no good at our job because of a terse email from our boss. But our boss probably doesn’t even remember sending the email and anyway she could have been having a terrible day and was unable to be as positive as usual. Perhaps our partner is being distant and we worry about our relationship and catastrophise about its ending. But our partner is probably just tired and a bit frazzled like us, and loves you just the same. Perhaps we worry about our children, our parents, our pets, our finances but the worries probably say more about us than it does about the situation itself. If we can see the fabrication then we will be freed. This is likened to …
Just as the thought would occur to a man walking quickly, ‘Why am I walking quickly? Why don’t I walk slowly?’ So he walks slowly. The thought occurs to him, ‘Why am I walking slowly? Why don’t I stand?’ So he stands. The thought occurs to him, ‘Why am I standing? Why don’t I sit down?’ So he sits down. The thought occurs to him, ‘Why am I sitting? Why don’t I lie down?’ So he lies down. In this way, giving up the grosser posture, he takes up the more refined one.
Suppress the thoughts
then — with his teeth clenched and his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth — he should beat down, constrain, and crush his mind with his awareness.
If all else fails then we should dig in and us as much effort as we can muster to master the thoughts, to crush them, to squeeze them out of existence. With this act of will we can be finally free of our negative thoughts. This is likened to …
Just as a strong man, seizing a weaker man by the head or the throat or the shoulders, would beat him down, constrain, and crush him;
Freedom
The path isn’t easy but what is the alternative – to remain enslaved to these distracting, circular, negative thoughts? Freedom lies in mastering our thoughts, with coming to know them and by working constructively with them.
He is then called a monk with mastery over the ways of thought sequences. He thinks whatever thought he wants to, and doesn’t think whatever thought he doesn’t. He has severed craving, thrown off the fetters, and — through the right penetration of conceit — has made an end of suffering and stress.