Upekṣā


Upekṣā, is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. As one of the Brahma Vihara, it is a pure mental state cultivated on the Buddhist path to nirvāna.

Pali literature

Many passages in the Pali Canon and post-canonical commentary identify upekkha as an important aspect of spiritual development. It is one of the Four Sublime States, which are purifying mental states capable of counteracting the defilements of lust, aversion and ignorance. As a brahmavihara, it is also one of the forty traditionally identified subjects of Buddhist meditation. In the Theravada list of ten paramita, upekkha is the last-identified bodhisattva practice, and in the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, it is the ultimate characteristic to develop.
To practice upekkha is to be unwavering or to stay neutral in the face of the eight vicissitudes of life—which are otherwise known as the eight worldly winds or eight worldly conditions: loss and gain, good-repute and ill-repute, praise and censure, and sorrow and happiness .
The "far enemy" of Upekkha is greed and resentment, mind-states in obvious opposition. The "near enemy", is indifference or apathy.
In the development of meditative concentration, upekkha arises as the quintessential factor of material absorption, present in the third and fourth jhana'' states:

Contemporary exposition

American Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: