Relating to Results (extract)

"Sometimes we’re told that in our practice of meditation, and in our approach to practice of the Buddha’s teachings as a whole, we shouldn’t be attached to results.

Now, this statement can be taken in a wrong way and a right way. The wrong way would be that we don’t care about the results, that we just do what we want to do and let the chips fall where they may, convinced in the rightness of our intentions. That’s a recipe for disaster, because one of the first things we have to learn is that we can’t totally trust our intentions. After all, we’re here to learn what our intentions are, and the best way for testing them is to see how they bear out in action, what results they give. If something seems like a good intention, you follow it, and then you watch to see what the results are. Many times the results turn out different from what you expected, in which case there was something wrong with the intention. It wasn’t skillful enough.

So this statement of not being attached to the results of our actions — if it’s going to make any sense in the practice — has to mean something else. And there are two ways that it can be taken in a useful way. One is if we realize that certain things are beyond our control and so we develop equanimity. We want there to be peace, happiness, justice, and well-being throughout the world, but it’s the nature of human society that there will be a lot of unrest, unhappiness, and injustice. There may be areas where we can make a difference, but for the most part there are a lot of cases that we can’t make that much difference, in which case we have to develop equanimity.

This is not just in reference to societies on other sides of the world. Sometimes even in our own lives there are areas where we just can’t be of help, either to ourselves or to other people, where we can’t make the difference that we’d like to make. You test the boundaries of that area, but when you run up against something you really can’t change, that’s when you have to be unattached to the results. In other words, the cards are stacked against you, there’s really nothing you can do. And it’s foolish to keep pushing in an area where you can’t make any difference. That’s one way.

Another way the principle makes sense is if you regard your own actions in areas where you are in charge, where you can make a difference, but you either acted in an unskillful way or you acted in a way that can’t get the results as quickly as you’d like. In that case, you have to have equanimity about the results, a certain amount of detachment to admit the mistake if it was a mistake, and to be patient about the results that take time. You want to admit the mistake so you can learn from it."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Relating to Results"