The Second Arrow: Working with Thoughts & Emotions

Talk given by Arthaketu on 2026-04-25.

In this follow-up to the talk "The Second Arrow: Working with Pain", we return to the Sallatha Sutta and deepen the inquiry. The Buddha’s image is simple but challenging: when pain arises, do we add a second arrow through resistance, or can we stay with the first?

But what about the mind itself? Does this teaching apply only to physical pain, or can it help us work with racing thoughts and difficult emotions?

Drawing on questions that arose after the previous talk, this episode explores how the “second arrow” shows up in our inner life. We look at how reactivity can take the form of spiraling thinking, emotional resistance, or subtle identification, and what it might mean to meet these experiences more directly, without adding extra suffering.

Sallatha Sutta: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn36/sn36.006.than.html

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