“Thought”is the core of the basic theory of ideological and political education. It is the“mystery” that perplexes the development of ideological and political education. Using big data to solve the riddle of “thought”in ideological and political education faces two major dilemmas：first，it is difficult to deduce the causal relationship from the correlation；second，it is difficult to digitalize people’s thoughts. However，the emergence of big data is still of great significance for promoting the innovation of ideological and political education. It helps to create emergency ideological and political education and gain time for solving the riddle of ideological and political education. Therefore，the scientific and rational use of big data is the premise of the innovation and development of ideological and political education.