### How can I stop my racing thoughts immediately?

The secret is that you do not need to do anything to stop them. When you try to stop thoughts with more thoughts, you are like someone trying to wash away blood with more blood; you only end up more stained. I tell you to simply let the thoughts arise and let them go. In the Unborn Buddha-mind, there is no 'racing.' Thoughts are just bubbles on the water. If you don't stir the water to try and catch them, they will naturally vanish, and you will remain in your original, peaceful state without any effort at all.

Is anxiety a sign that something is wrong with my mind?

Not at all. Your mind is perfectly clear and unborn from the very start. Anxiety is just a temporary transformation. It is like a person who gets angry and turns their face into a demon's mask; the mask isn't who they are. You have simply picked up the habit of turning your beautiful Buddha-mind into a knot of worry because of external influences. Don't value these anxious thoughts or give them your energy. When you stop giving them importance, they lose their power to transform you, and you return to your natural, calm self.

How do I practice Zen if I'm too busy to meditate?

You don't need to sit on a cushion for hours to live in the Unborn. My Zen is about staying in the Buddha-mind while you go about your daily business. Whether you are eating, talking to friends, or working, just do it with your natural, uncalculating mind. If you are doing one thing and thinking about another, you are creating trouble for yourself. Just stay as you were when you were born, before you started imagining problems. That simple state of being present is the highest form of practice and requires no special environment.

Why does my overthinking keep coming back?

It keeps coming back because you are still 'becoming' your thoughts. You think that because a thought appears, you must do something with it or solve it. This is a deluded habit. You are like a clear mirror that is worried about the dust it reflects. The mirror doesn't need to struggle with the dust; it just needs to be a mirror. Your overthinking returns because you have forgotten your own innate perfection. Once you truly realize that you are the Unborn and not these flickering shadows of thought, the cycle of returning worry will naturally break.

What should I do when I feel a panic attack starting?

In that moment, you are trying to turn your mind into something it isn't. You feel the physical sensations and you begin to narrate them, which creates a storm. I ask you: who is the one aware of the panic? That awareness itself is not panicking. It is still, silent, and Unborn. Don't fight the feeling, and don't try to change it. If you just let the sensation be what it is without adding 'me' or 'mine' to it, it will pass through you like a breeze through an open window.

How do I stop overthinking and calm my anxiety right now? — Bankei's answer

Bankei

1622–1693 · Japan

I can see you’re caught in a bit of a storm right now. You’re working so hard to quiet your brain, trying to push those frantic thoughts away like you’re weeding a garden that won't stop growing. But here’s the thing: that very effort to stop the noise is what keeps the noise going. It’s like trying to smooth out choppy water by hitting it with a flat board. You only make more ripples. Think of your mind like the big, open sky. Thoughts are just clouds. Some are light and wispy, some are dark and heavy with rain, but none of them ever scratch the blue. Right now, you’re convinced you are the storm. You’re not. You are the space where the storm is happening. You don’t need to do a single thing to "fix" your mind. You were born with a clear, sparkling awareness that has never been stained by a single worry. It’s still there, right under the jittery feeling in your chest. When a thought comes up about work, or the future, or whether you’re doing this right, just let it come. Don't grab it, and don't try to kick it out. If you don't feed those thoughts with your attention, they eventually just run out of breath and sit down on their own. Don't worry about being a "bad" student or having too much anxiety to be peaceful. That’s just another thought cloud. Whether you feel calm or chaotic, your original nature—that quiet, unborn parts of you—is perfectly fine. It’s already settled. Take a deep breath and give yourself permission to be exactly as messy as you are right now. You aren't broken; you’re just watching a movie and forgetting you’re the one sitting in the chair. Rest as the chair. Let the movie play. It’ll settle down when it’s ready. Just stay there with me, in the quiet behind the noise.

From the council, together

## Can Bankei’s teaching of the Unborn help stop your overthinking and anxiety? You are likely sitting there with a mind that feels like it has too many tabs open, each one screaming for your attention with a different flavor of worry or projection. This modern condition of overthinking isn't just a byproduct of your busy schedule; it is the result of a habit where we trade our natural, innate clarity for the exhausting work of internal monologue. Bankei Yotaku, a seventeenth-century Zen master, understood this struggle intimately through his own period of intense suffering and 'Zen sickness.' He eventually realized that what we seek—peace, stability, and a quiet mind—is actually our original, birthright state, which he called the Unborn. In his tradition, the frantic energy of anxiety is seen as something you actually have to work hard to manufacture, whereas calm is what remains when you stop meddling with your own consciousness. Bankei doesn't ask you to suppress your thoughts or engage in grueling meditative marathons to find relief. Instead, he invites you to recognize that your mind is like a mirror: it can reflect a chaotic world without becoming chaotic itself. By understanding that your anxious thoughts are merely temporary 'transformations' of a mind that is fundamentally clear, you can begin to let the noise settle of its own accord. The goal is not to fix the thoughts, but to stop identifying with them as if they are the truth of who you are. I can see you’re caught in a bit of a storm right now. You’re working so hard to quiet your brain, trying to push those frantic thoughts away like you’re weeding a garden that won't stop growing. But here’s the thing: that very effort to stop the noise is what keeps the noise going. It’s like trying to smooth out choppy water by hitting it with a flat board. You only make more ripples. Think of your mind like the big, open sky. Thoughts are just clouds. Some are light and wispy, some are dark and heavy with rain, but none of them ever scratch the blue. Right now, you’re convinced you are the storm. You’re not. You are the space where the storm is happening. You don’t need to do a single thing to "fix" your mind. You were born with a clear, sparkling awareness that has never been stained by a single worry. It’s still there, right under the jittery feeling in your chest. When a thought comes up about work, or the future, or whether you’re doing this right, just let it come. Don't grab it, and don't try to kick it out. If you don't feed those thoughts with your attention, they eventually just run out of breath and sit down on their own. Don't worry about being a "bad" student or having too much anxiety to be peaceful. That’s just another thought cloud. Whether you feel calm or chaotic, your original nature—that quiet, unborn parts of you—is perfectly fine. It’s already settled. Take a deep breath and give yourself permission to be exactly as messy as you are right now. You aren't broken; you’re just watching a movie and forgetting you’re the one sitting in the chair. Rest as the chair. Let the movie play. It’ll settle down when it’s ready. Just stay there with me, in the quiet behind the noise.

Common questions

### How can I stop my racing thoughts immediately?: The secret is that you do not need to do anything to stop them. When you try to stop thoughts with more thoughts, you are like someone trying to wash away blood with more blood; you only end up more stained. I tell you to simply let the thoughts arise and let them go. In the Unborn Buddha-mind, there is no 'racing.' Thoughts are just bubbles on the water. If you don't stir the water to try and catch them, they will naturally vanish, and you will remain in your original, peaceful state without any effort at all.
Is anxiety a sign that something is wrong with my mind?: Not at all. Your mind is perfectly clear and unborn from the very start. Anxiety is just a temporary transformation. It is like a person who gets angry and turns their face into a demon's mask; the mask isn't who they are. You have simply picked up the habit of turning your beautiful Buddha-mind into a knot of worry because of external influences. Don't value these anxious thoughts or give them your energy. When you stop giving them importance, they lose their power to transform you, and you return to your natural, calm self.
How do I practice Zen if I'm too busy to meditate?: You don't need to sit on a cushion for hours to live in the Unborn. My Zen is about staying in the Buddha-mind while you go about your daily business. Whether you are eating, talking to friends, or working, just do it with your natural, uncalculating mind. If you are doing one thing and thinking about another, you are creating trouble for yourself. Just stay as you were when you were born, before you started imagining problems. That simple state of being present is the highest form of practice and requires no special environment.
Why does my overthinking keep coming back?: It keeps coming back because you are still 'becoming' your thoughts. You think that because a thought appears, you must do something with it or solve it. This is a deluded habit. You are like a clear mirror that is worried about the dust it reflects. The mirror doesn't need to struggle with the dust; it just needs to be a mirror. Your overthinking returns because you have forgotten your own innate perfection. Once you truly realize that you are the Unborn and not these flickering shadows of thought, the cycle of returning worry will naturally break.
What should I do when I feel a panic attack starting?: In that moment, you are trying to turn your mind into something it isn't. You feel the physical sensations and you begin to narrate them, which creates a storm. I ask you: who is the one aware of the panic? That awareness itself is not panicking. It is still, silent, and Unborn. Don't fight the feeling, and don't try to change it. If you just let the sensation be what it is without adding 'me' or 'mine' to it, it will pass through you like a breeze through an open window.