system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are we responsible for our moral and immoral thoughts?

I believe that Nietzsche would say, "yes, but do not dwell; act!" Sartre would say "unequivocally, yes." Buddhism would say "yes, but they are impersonal."

That's great in theory. But say someone has ocd. She cannot shake the idea of throwing people under the bus every time she walks on the sidewalk. And she never acts on it but this compulsion fills her with angst and shame. Therapy and meditation tell her they are just thoughts and feelings, they are not who you are. She trusts her treatment but still feels terrible when she has the urge to push the stroller in front of the bus. What is she to do with that? Is she responsible for the compulsions? the angst? the shame?
gpt
The Buddhist view is a bit more more subtle and forgiving than you describe.

Most of us do not have control over our thoughts — we are driven by “the winds of karma” — essentially very deep habitual patterns.  Persons with OCD are just an extreme example.  All of us have fixed patterns of thought and “root kleshas” — conflicted emotions of anger, desire, ignorance, pride, jealousy.  

What we are able to do is to “cultivate merit” — to work to change karmic patterns toward healthier, more virtuous habits.  So, we can change habits of anger by applying patience, or habits of ignorance (avoidance of the sharp edges of our experience) by cultivating awareness, or habits of jealousy by cultivating sympathetic joy.

And we can ultimately cultivate wisdom — seeing clearly the groundlessness of our basic ignorance in fixating on a “self” that needs to be defended and preserved against deterioration and death.

In this process of cultivating merit and wisdom, guilt and shame are not particularly helpful thoughts because they are rooted in an idea of a solid self to which “blame” is fixed.  The healthier view is to feel remorse — which is aimed at the problematic thought, speech or action — and does not make the thought personal in the form of blame.  

And thoughts themselves have only very light karma that is easily countered by practices such as taking bodhisattva vows, contemplative practices such as tonglen aimed at reversing painful habitual patterns, etc.