The Liberation of Thought

"We have spoken a great deal about the possibility of change. How does this actually happen within contemplative practice? We know that emotions last only a few seconds, that moods persist for, let's say, a day, and that temperament is something that takes shape over years. So if we want to change, it's clear we need to work first with our emotions, and this will help modify our moods, which eventually stabilize into a transformed temperament. In other words, we need to begin working with the instantaneous events that occur in the mind. As we say, if we take care of the minutes, the hours will take care of themselves. So one of the main questions concerns how thoughts chain together, how one thought leads to another. 

My teacher told me a story about a former warrior chief from eastern Tibet who abandoned all martial and worldly pursuits and went to a cave to meditate. He spent several years there. One day a flock of pigeons landed in front of the cave and he scattered some grain for them. As he watched, though, the pigeons reminded him of the legions of warriors he had once commanded, and this brought to mind the military expeditions, and he grew angry again thinking of his old enemies. These memories soon flooded his mind and he descended into the valley, found his old companions, and returned to war. This shows how a small thought can become an obsession, how a tiny white cloud grows and transforms into a massive dark cloud filled with lightning. How do we deal with this? When we speak of meditation, the word used in Tibetan actually means "familiarization."

We need to familiarize ourselves with a new way of handling the arising of thoughts. At first, when a thought of anger, desire, or jealousy arises, we are unprepared for it. So within seconds, that thought gives rise to a second and a third, and soon our mental landscape is flooded with thoughts that solidify our anger or jealousy, and then it is too late. This is what happens when a spark ignites a forest, and we are in trouble.

The basic way to intervene is called "looking back" at the thought. When a thought arises, we need to observe it and observe its source. We need to investigate the nature of this thought that seems so solid. When we face it directly, its apparent solidity melts away and the thought dissolves without giving rise to a chain of thoughts. The point is not to try to block thoughts from arising, which is not even possible, but to keep them from invading our mind. We need to do this many times because we are not accustomed to dealing with thoughts in this way. 

We are like a piece of paper that has been rolled up for a long time. When we try to open it flat on a table, it rolls back up the moment we lift our hands. This is how the training works. Perhaps some wonder what people do during retreats, sitting for eight hours a day. They do exactly this: they familiarize themselves with a new way of handling the arising of thoughts. When we begin to get used to recognizing thoughts, it is as if we become able to quickly spot someone we know in a crowd. When a powerful thought of strong attraction or anger arises, and we know it will lead to a proliferation of thoughts, we begin to recognize it: "Ah, there's that idea again." This is the first step. It helps greatly in preventing such a thought from taking us over. After becoming accustomed to this, the process of dealing with thoughts becomes more natural. We don't need to struggle and apply specific antidotes to each negative thought, because we know how to let it fade without leaving a trace. Thoughts untie themselves. The example given is that of a snake. If it ties a knot in its own body, it can undo that knot without effort, without needing any outside help. Eventually, there comes a time when thoughts arrive and depart like a bird passing through the sky, leaving no trace.

Another example is that of a thief entering an empty house. The owner has nothing to lose and the thief has nothing to gain. It is an experience of freedom. We do not become simply apathetic, like vegetables, but we come to master our thoughts. They no longer pull us by the reins. This can only happen through constant training and genuine experience. This is also how we can, gradually, acquire certain qualities that become part of our nature, becoming a new temperament."

This is an excerpt from a talk by Matthieu Ricard, transcribed from the book "Destructive Emotions: How to Overcome Them", which documents the collaboration between the Dalai Lama and a group of scientists to understand and address destructive emotions.