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In the RAISE acronym for working with obsessive thoughts (from MN20), the A is for Assess, and it refers to judging a given thought as wholesome or unwholesome. When the Buddha describes his own path, he says that distinguishing between these two kinds of thoughts was one of his key breakthroughs. This technique can feel non-intuitive to us if we’ve absorbed the teaching on self-acceptance, or instructions around being mindful of thinking simply as thinking without judging it as positive or negative.

But the Buddha isn’t against thought, he’s just against unskillful thought. There are thought patterns that are helpful on the path, and there are thought patterns that are a hindrance. To distinguish between the two, we need to set a couple new patterns up in our minds.

One is two admit that we have unwholesome thoughts at all, which to some of us seems obvious (“duh, I have unwholesome thoughts all the time”), and to others of us seems sacrilege (“isn’t it better to accept ourselves as we are, including our thoughts?”).

The second is to get interested in strengthening wholesome thoughts and defeating unwholesome ones. It helps the warrior mentality (which the Buddha had) to disidentify with being the thinker. If I am the one “doing” my thoughts, then attacking a thought pattern feels like attacking myself. As we’ve been talking about, it’s better to think of your thoughts as sometimes helpful and sometimes harmful transmissions from the culture at large. Listen to your thoughts like a radio, and when it is spewing hatred or useless stimulation, change the channel or turn the radio off. Changing the channel is the R in RAISE (Replace), and turning the radio off is the S (Silence). If you’re not the driver (because the driver controls the radio—at least that was the rule when I was a teenager), then the I (Ignore) is your method. So… take the wheel.

Tonight we’ll talk about judging thoughts as wholesome or unwholesome, based on the discourse “Two Kinds of Thought” (MN 19), and habituating this mental process—basically an ethical assessment—into your moment to moment practice of mental tending through the day.

SEAN OAKES
Sean Feit Oakes, PhD (he/they, queer, Puerto Rican & English, living on Pomo ancestral land in Northern California), teaches Buddhism and somatic practice focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He received Insight Meditation teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, and wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance. Sean holds certifications in Somatic Experiencing (SEP, assistant), and Yoga (E-RYT 500, YACEP), and teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, East Bay Meditation Center, Insight Timer, and elsewhere.

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Blessings on your path.