What do you do if distracting thoughts keep you from moving forward?
How do you get unstuck and start seeing clearly again?
To answer these questions, I’m looking at the Vitakkasanthana Sutta from Majjhima Nikaya.
It’s an instruction on how to deal with distracting thoughts taught by the Buddha. If you want to read the full version, it can be found here in translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
It’s important to note that this is an ancient sutta, and the language used in it may seem hard to understand.
The instructions are addressed to practicing Buddhist monks. But that shouldn’t be seen as an obstacle.
Instead, we should see it as an opportunity to learn from the master himself and improve as lay practitioners.
There are 5 steps that I will quote here and offer some of my personal reflections to help you apply them to your own practice.
Step #1
The Blessed One said: “When a monk is intent on the heightened mind, there are five themes he should attend to at the appropriate times. Which five?
There is the case where evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion, or delusion—arise in a monk while he is referring to and attending to a particular theme. He should attend to another theme, apart from that one, connected with what is skillful. When he is attending to this other theme, apart from that one, connected with what is skillful, then those evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion, or delusion—are abandoned and subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, and concentrates it. — the Buddha
According to Pali commentaries, “themes” refer to practical exercises for removal of distracting thoughts.
In this passage, “attend to another theme” means to use a different meditation technique to overcome the current challenge of the mind.
For example, to overcome thoughts of hatred, one should do loving-kindness meditation. To overcome sensual desire, one should do meditation on the unattractive nature of the body and so on for other mental obstructions.
But I also want to mention my first impression from reading this paragraph before reading the commentary.
“Attending to another theme” (the phrasing in this particular translation) has reminded me of how our thinking can be affected by our immediate surroundings.
So much of what we see and hear on television and social media can be detrimental to our mental health and well-being.
That is why it’s essential to limit exposure to these harmful energy sources as much as possible.
So if you find yourself engulfed by a wave of negative thoughts and emotions, ask yourself how much of it was caused by your environment. Can you take practical steps to reduce its harmful influence on you?
Step #2
If evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion, or delusion—still arise in the monk while he is attending to this other theme, connected with what is skillful, he should scrutinize the drawbacks of those thoughts: ‘Really, these thoughts of mine are unskillful, these thoughts of mine are blameworthy, these thoughts of mine result in stress.’ As he is scrutinizing the drawbacks of those thoughts, those evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion, or delusion—are abandoned and subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, and concentrates it. — the Buddha
As I understand it, the Buddha’s instruction here reminds us that negative thoughts are harmful to ourselves, not to the object of our thoughts.
You should always ask yourself how those thoughts can affect your mood and health.
Does negative thinking provide you with any value? Can it lead to a positive change in your life?
If your answer is no, then you should stop right now. Recognize the futile and harmful nature of these thoughts and let them go.
Ruminating over them won’t do you any good.
Step #3
If evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion or delusion—still arise in the monk while he is scrutinizing the drawbacks of those thoughts, he should pay no mind and pay no attention to those thoughts. As he is paying no mind and paying no attention to them, those evil, unskillful thoughts are abandoned and subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, and concentrates it. — the Buddha
This passage reminds me of how we always tend to think about the negative rather than the positive.
If you had a day full of good and bad events, what would you remember and tell your friends about first of all?
Of course, it would be about something bad or someone bad that ruined your perfect day.
Despite how strange that sounds, it’s exactly how our mind works – you just can’t help it.
This instruction urges us to recognize this unhealthy pattern in ourselves and pay little attention to it.
If we do that, it will lose its power and won’t occupy our minds as strongly as before.
Step #4
If evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion or delusion—still arise in the monk while he is paying no mind and paying no attention to those thoughts, he should attend to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts. As he is attending to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts, those evil, unskillful thoughts are abandoned and subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, and concentrates it. — the Buddha
In Bikkhu Bodhi’s version, “relaxing of thought-fabrication” is translated as “stilling the thought-formation.”
According to Pali commentaries, it means “stopping the cause of the thought.” So removal of distracting thoughts can be done by asking yourself, “What is the cause of the thought?” “What is the cause of its cause”? And so on.
Nevertheless, before reading the Pali commentary, this passage reminded me of a relaxed attitude toward our thoughts.
What do I mean by that? It all comes down to the development of relaxed awareness of whatever is going on in our heads.
One of the first challenges people face when starting meditation is how overwhelming some thoughts and images can be in that state.
As we practice more and more, we develop the ability to not be swept away by our thoughts and underlying emotions.
We learn to be calm observers, detach from our thoughts, and eventually heal from the inside out.
Step #5
If evil, unskillful thoughts—connected with desire, aversion or delusion—still arise in the monk while he is attending to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those 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. As—with his teeth clenched and his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth—he is beating down, constraining, and crushing his mind with his awareness, those evil, unskillful thoughts are abandoned and subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, and concentrates it. — the Buddha
Bhikkhu Analyao in his book Satipatthana wrote that this part of the sutta serves as the last resort if all the above approaches did not help.
To “beat down, constrain, and crush mind with awareness” is, therefore, an extreme measure to prevent obsessive thoughts from manifesting as the wrong action.
The first reading of this part reminded me that meditation requires a certain degree of directed awareness. As much as we want to be relaxed, we also need to be present.
We need to achieve a delicate balance between relaxation and alertness to recognize and deal with negative thoughts.
This is achieved at a later stage of the meditation practice and requires time and effort.
When awareness is developed and nurtured, it can be used for removal of distracting thoughts and subduing of unwholesome states of mind.
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